IRELAND SAID THEY’RE pleased that Garry Ringrose and Josh van der Flier are looking sharp on their return to fitness ahead of Saturday’s meeting with the Springboks in Dublin.

Outside centre Ringrose and openside flanker van der Flier missed last weekend’s win over Australia due to hamstring injuries, but both are back in training this week.

It remains to be seen how Ireland’s selection goes, but both experienced senior players have shown up well, according to assistant coach Simon Easterby.

He’s happy to have them back this week.

“Yeah, for sure,” said Easterby.

“It’s been a good weekend for them, I guess, in terms of getting through what they needed to do in terms of their rehab and they’ve hit the ground running yesterday and today.”

While Stuart McCloskey has been ruled out of the Springboks game due to the groin injury he suffered against Australia, head coach Andy Farrell is facing a few tight selection calls this week.

And Easterby said Ireland have been pleased at how injury issues over the course of the month have been well managed, including at fullback.

“Hugo [Keenan] has been the mainstay in the 15 jersey for a good while,” said Easterby.

“It was great to see Mack return on the weekend after Jamie’s injury and I think there’s other guys as well in there that have trained really well in that position that we could call upon so I guess this period has given us in a few positions the opportunity to build some more depth which is really important two years out from a World Cup, not just in the 15 jersey but in other positions as well.”

Easterby said Ireland have had a good start to the week, getting through their training day on Monday at the team hotel in the K Club.

They trained at the IRFU’s high performance centre today and they’re gearing up for a huge Test against the best team in the world this weekend.

“I think you understand that they have strengths that other teams don’t have and you’ve got to find a few weaknesses as well, so we need to be better at what we do with and without the ball,” said Easterby of the Boks.

“That includes our physicality, it includes the ability for us to stop a team scoring tries when they get into our 22, which we weren’t good enough at on the weekend. So that’s international rugby and it doesn’t matter who you play, the physicality has to be a given.”

While Ireland are obviously going all-out for another win, Easterby doesn’t believe that this autumn window being declared a success is completely dependent on victory this weekend.

“I wouldn’t say that, I think there’s other things to factor into this series, the challenges of going to Chicago, spending time away, dealing with that loss and building resilience in the squad,” said Easterby.

“It’s not always going to be perfect, you’re not going to have it your own way all the time.

“It’s how the group have responded from the disappointment of Chicago has been outstanding and I think there’s been plenty of open and honest conversations in the group and it’s no better challenge than South Africa coming to the Aviva on the weekend for us to see if we can put a lot of those things into practice that we’ve spoken about trying to improve on.”