Northern lights can dazzle Boks

THE CLASH of the Northern Hemisphere grand slam winners and the Tri-Nations and world champions at Croke Park this afternoon assumes even greater significance now that both sides are able to field as close to full-strength as makes no difference.

True, Ireland are without Luke Fitzgerald and Marcus Horan and there are also one or two notable absentees from the South African line-up, most notably number eight Juan Smith and full-back Francois Steyn. But in a contact sport like rugby, it is a rarity when any side can muster a full deck and so it’s all to play for in another of the fascinating kind of confrontations that have lit up the Irish sporting firmament in recent years.

All week, we have been assured by both camps that there is “no animosity” between the teams. We will take their words at face value except with the caveat that we also know for sure that there is no love lost between them. The Springboks are still smarting at losing their two most recent games on Irish soil and naturally enough the home side would like nothing more than to make it a hat-trick of wins.