Garry Ringrose happy to wing it again as Ireland stress-test options

LEADER: Ireland's Garry Ringrose. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA Wire.

Top of the world versus best in the world doesn’t need the extra trimmings but that’s not to say there aren’t plenty of them as Ireland host South Africa at the Aviva Stadium this coming Saturday.

Both coaching staffs have been frank and honest about the wider context here. This isn’t just about immediate bragging rights, it’s a preliminary bout before they go at it again in the pool stages of the World Cup next year.

For the Springboks, this next month is an ideal dry run in what at some stage will surely be wetter northern hemisphere conditions of the type that could play a part in 12 months’ time in France.

Both South Africa and Ireland have added ‘A’ games to their schedule so that they can add depth to their squads and road test their ability to contend with a blizzard of game against major opposition in a short space of time.

Things go wrong at World Cups, as we know. Players miss out with injuries and suspensions, before the first game and during the tournament, and form waxes and wanes in a way that challenges best-laid plans.

Players who can multi-task become all the more valuable and the sight of Garry Ringrose moonlighting to huge effect on the wing for Leinster against the Sharks early last month is an example of the gains that are there to be made.

Ringrose earned his first four Leinster caps on the wing but that was seven years ago and since then he has put together a rich body of work with his club and country that has delivered personal and collective rewards.

“I started on the wing for my first cap under Leo Cullen, and under Joe (Schmidt) as well he was always telling me to be ready on the wing. Even with the World Cup challenge, when the squad is shorter, guys are always challenged to play more than one position or know what to do.

“As a 13, your relationship with your winger is so important, both defensively and on attack. I guess playing 13 helps when I'm out there, because I know what the guys inside are thinking, and know what the half-backs are thinking, getting a different angle on the game. It's the same for both.” 

There are any number of moving parts to the Ireland machine right now.

Fifty players reported for duty on Sunday evening and ahead of a week that will peak with the ‘A’ game against New Zealand at the RDS on Friday and the Test match against the world champions down the road in Ballsbridge the next day.

Head coach Andy Farrell has voiced his belief that professional rugby can slip all too easily into a formulaic approach and he has already countered that with the Maori games in New Zealand and the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa.

Ireland’s last World Cup campaign never got off the ground, the team arriving in Japan on the back of a traumatic Six Nations after the highs of 2018 and leaving with players in tow who clearly felt that form had not been rewarded.

The sense is that these lessons have been learned.

“I think it benefits the group, because you have different teams challenging and preparing for different opposition, and in training you see different pictures you wouldn't be exposed to when you're prepping for just one team,” said Ringrose of this week’s dual approach.

“Training today was really challenging because we were throwing things at each other that we wouldn't have been exposed to before. I'm sure South Africa and New Zealand will have come up with things to try and break us down, so to be ready for the unknown is part of the challenge.”

This sense of evolution will continue on a personal level for Ringrose when he faces the Springboks for the first ever time today: a remarkable statistic given he has played 44 times for his country at this stage.

The last meeting of the sides is five years in the past and it ended, famously, with a record 38-3 for the hosts in Dublin and since which Rassie Erasmus has turned around the fortunes of what had been an ailing side.

The task this week will be infinitely tougher with head coach Jacques Nienaber naming a seriously strong and impressive 15 and matchday 23 for a game against a host side that is currently sitting on top of the world rankings.

“I only saw it when I came out after training,” said Ringrose. 

“They’ve named a strong squad but they could have picked any number of permutations. It’s an unbelievably strong squad they’ve gone for.”