In quartet's absence, others need to step up for Ireland in South Africa

Ireland’s Mack Hansen and Jamison Gibson-Park celebrate with Hugo Keenan. Picture: ©INPHO/Photosport/Elias Rodriguez

Andy Farrell signed off from a successful Six Nations title defence in March praising his squad’s ability to step up in the absence of players.

The Ireland head coach will want precisely the same response when his touring party travels south of the Equator next Tuesday to face the back-to-back world champions without even more personnel who have been pivotal in those successes.

Ahead of a two-Test series with South Africa next month, the hosts are doing their damnedest to goad their guests. Before the opening encounter in Pretoria on July 6, Farrell needs the same reaction on arrival he got five months ago when Ireland put to bed their World Cup disappointment, the retirements of Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls, and the losses through injury of Jimmy O’Brien and Mack Hansen to open their championship account with a statement victory over France in Marseille.

The ambition of back-to-back Grand Slams was not quite realised, a revitalized England spoiling that in the dying seconds at Twickenham in the penultimate round, but it was a repeat title that marked the coming of age of a number of players asked to fill big boots.

The same questions will be posed this time around, with Farrell yesterday forced to name a 35-player squad without his first-choice scrum-half, full-back or right wing, in Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan and the still unavailable Hansen, nor his go-to replacement back-rower, the 46-cap No.8 Jack Conan.

That is a quartet with a serious amount of Test rugby knowhow and though Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks have their own fair share of absences this summer, it will be incumbent upon their replacements to fill the void and then some as Ireland go in search of a historic first series victory on South African soil.

While the three uncapped players named on Tuesday are not in line to replace them, the selection of 21-year-old fly-half Sam Prendergast, his Leinster team-mate and centre Jamie Osborne, 22, and Ulster back-five forward Cormac Izuchukwu, 24, is nevertheless a nod to future potential and the experience of a top-level tour could prove invaluable to their development.

Their inclusion is also significant in terms of the men they have leapfrogged in Farrell’s pecking order with Prendergast preferred to his fellow Leinster 10s, the more experienced Ross Byrne and younger brother Harry, and Izuchukwu in ahead of strong claims for Gavin Coombes while injury struck Tom Ahern at the worst possible time in the final round of the URC regular season.

Gibson-Park’s loss is a serious blow, the Leinster number nine having become the high-tempo heartbeat of an ambitious Ireland attack with Farrell calling on Connacht’s Caolin Blade as a replacement and the Test jersey appearing to be heading back towards veteran centurion Conor Murray, although his Munster team-mate Craig Casey is now first choice at his province.

Keenan’s pursuit of an Olympic medal with the Ireland Sevens fortuitously coincides with the return to full fitness in recent weeks of his Leinster comrade O’Brien after a neck injury. Provincial team-mates Jordan Larmour, who started at 15 last time out against Scotland, and the versatile Ciaran Frawley, selected essentially as a fly-half, will also be chasing selection.

Calvin Nash, cruelly cut from the pre-World Cup training squad after a debut against Italy last August, made the most of his recall last February, moving effortlessly into the void created by Hansen’s dislocated shoulder to score in the victory over France and then again the following week against the Italians and the Munster man will be in pole position to continue in the role in South Africa after overcoming the leg knock which forced him out of the URC semi-final loss to Glasgow Warriors last Saturday.

Conan’s absence due to personal reasons offers some opportunity for more experience for the likes of Ulster’s Nick Timoney and Connacht’s Cian Prendergast if Farrell tries to match the Springbok “Bomb Squad” ploy and field a bench of six forwards and two backs and allows for an additional back-rower alongside, presumably, Ryan Baird.

It was Baird who finished the Six Nations in fine form and suggesting himself as the next blindside flanker off the rank, although his time may have to wait a little longer following the re-appointment of Peter O’Mahony as tour captain having lifted the Six Nations trophy in his first campaign since replacing the retired Sexton.

Even a veteran Test centurion like O’Mahony has had some stepping up to do for Ireland in recent months and rest assured many more will be expected to follow his example against the Springboks.

IRELAND TOUR SQUAD FOR SOUTH AFRICA 

Forwards (19): R Baird (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), T Beirne (Munster), C Doris (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), C Healy (Leinster), R Herring (Ulster), C Izuchukwu (Ulster), O Jager (Munster), R Kelleher (Leinster), J McCarthy (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster) – Captain, T O’Toole (Ulster), A Porter (Leinster), C Prendergast (Connacht), J Ryan (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), N Timoney (Ulster), J van der Flier (Leinster).

Backs (16): B Aki (Connacht), C Blade (Connacht), C Casey (Munster), J Crowley (Munster), C Frawley (Leinster), R Henshaw (Leinster), J Larmour (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), C Murray (Munster), C Nash (Munster), J O’Brien (Leinster), J Osborne (Leinster), S Prendergast (Leinster), G Ringrose (Leinster), J Stockdale (Ulster).