McGrath relishing challenge

As Jack McGrath lounges on a sofa, you could not imagine the young prop was preparing to go toe to toe with a mighty South African pack of forwards.

Almost horizontal as his 6ft 1ins, 18st 8lb body relaxes into the upholstery at the team hotel, his front row colleague Mike Ross is standing tall on the opposite side of one of the Ireland team hotel’s numerous anterooms, filling a doorway with his own considerable frame as he gets his picture taken.

Their presence makes the room feel as confined as a crowded lift and brings into sharp focus the shuddering physicality that will be unleashed when these bodies begin to collide with their Springbok adversaries at the Aviva Stadium this evening.