Dan Sheehan suffers suspected ACL tear as bruised Ireland ready for one last push against Boks

Craig Casey has been ruled out of the series decider in Durban.

Dan Sheehan of Ireland receives medical treatment during the first test between South Africa and Ireland at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Ireland arrived in Durban on Sunday, battered, bruised and counting the cost of the 27-20 loss against the Springboks in Durban, but they also touched down with hope.

Although they were on the wrong end of the scoreboard in front of 51,000 seething fans at Loftus Versfeld, it was a match they could have won.

Two crucial television match official calls went against Ireland. They were marginal and might have gone the other way and had they, there would be a different mood in Andy Farrell’s Monday review.

However, the result is in the books and Ireland now have to plan for King’s Park and another large, partisan crowd, against a Springbok side that will be better.

The Boks were not exactly purring about their own performance and there is definitely more to come from the home team.

Ireland will be without scrumhalf Craig Casey for the second Test, who was stretchered off after his head hit the turf violently in a perfectly legal tackle. Farrell confirmed that was concussed, which means he won’t feature in Durban.

Dan Sheehan sustained a suspected ACL tear and faces a lengthy lay-off. The hooker played on for a few minutes after picking up the injury, but didn’t appear for the second half in Pretoria.

Farrell said that debutant fullback Jamie Osborne was withdrawn with 30 minutes to go in Pretoria because of a groin niggle. The extent of that injury is not fully clear.

Centre Robbie Henshaw is also under a concussion cloud. Although he played on after being flattened by Bok skipper Siya Kolisi, it’s understood he failed his post-match head injury assessment.

It’s a lengthy wounded list, underling the physicality of the encounter.

“It was tight margins as clichéd as that is,” No 8 Caelan Doris, who had a colossal game, said after the Loftus battle.

“The message in the changing rooms after the game was not to dwell on it, not to sulk too much and feel sorry because there's still a big game coming next week.

“We want to finish the season on a high with a good performance and a win, so lads are pretty battered but we'll recover well and get into it on Monday.” Farrell took a similar line. 

Privately he might have been seething about some marginal calls from the officials but his energy is better spent focusing on where his team can improve, and there is room for improvement.

Ireland weren’t always defensively on top of their game – particularly in the first half when the Boks played with width. The connections between defenders were a little off, which saw them punished in the third minute when wing Kurt-Lee Arendse was put into five metres of space. 

It was all he needed to skin Calvin Nash and step past Osborne.

“First and foremost, the players must make sure they turn up for work in the right manner,” Farrell said about the approach this week.

“They must make sure they're not feeling sorry for themselves, so that they're open enough to be honest, learn the lessons and put them right.

“Attack the week, have a good week and enjoy it. It's our last week of the season, they should be buzzing for that. You only get to that point if you're able to be honest and straight with each other and there's a few things we need to get off our chests at the beginning of the week and then get on together.” 

There are always technical issues to work on, but Farrell could not fault the players’ attitude in the game. He has challenged them to bring the same mindset to preparation and into the Test in Durban this week.

“We never go away. There's fight there, we always give ourselves a little bit of hope and, with a little bit of luck, it could have been a little bit closer,” Farrell said.

“You don't always win a game even when you play the best, but certainly a few things went against us and that's just life.

“We can certainly play better than that and I've no doubt South Africa would no doubt, 100 percent say the same.” 

South Africa counterpart Rassie Erasmus confirmed Farrell’s assertion that the Boks think they can improve as well.

“Overall, the goal was achieved but it was far from a perfect performance,” said Erasmus about the win.

“Ireland are a team we’ve had zero success against since (we took over in) 2018 and the next worst record is against New Zealand – which is a 50% record – and they’ve really had our number.” Bok skipper Kolisi knows that the job is not done either.

“Of course, this game and result was very important for us,” Kolisi said in Pretoria. “We haven’t beaten them since 2016, so it was special for our confidence. But the job is not done yet. We want to win the series and we know they are going to come back harder.

“Even in the game today it looked like we were going to pull away, but they kept coming back. We know it is going to be another proper Test in Durban.”