Rory Best hoping for something special in a near-impossible Test

Ireland captain Rory Best admits it is going to take something special to create history at Newlands today and snatch a first Test win in South Africa.

A record of six defeats in six attempts, three at this evening’s venue, does not bode well for Best and his injury-hit team. Nor does the calibre of the opposition and their air of near-invincibility on home soil.

Yet like the visitors, the Springboks are in a state of flux, the side that pushed New Zealand so close in last October’s World Cup semi-final missing some key components and heading into a new campaign with a debutant head coach in Allister Coetzee.