Ireland clash with South Africa in the November Rugby Internationals in Dublin on Saturday and the Boks start as the bookmakers favourites to come out on top
Ireland v South Africa, Saturday 22nd November, Dublin, KO 19:40 (South African time)
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Christophe Ridley (RFU)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (RFU)
Weather Forecast - Dublin
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Ireland:
Ireland were 10.5 point favourites for last week’s clash with the Wallabies in Dublin and they covered it comfortably with Mack Hansen scoring 3 of their 6 tries in a 46-19 victory, an Irish record margin with over the Wallabies.
A week earlier Ireland put Japan away 41-10 in Dublin, scoring another 6 tries. Soldier Field, Chicago was the neutral venue for Ireland’s opening match of this series against the All Blacks and after a tight first half it was New Zealand who got on top with 3 of their 4 tries arriving in the final quarter and Ireland finished beaten 26-13.
Ireland’s mid year program saw them beat Georgia (34-5) and thrash Portugal (106-7).
In the Six Nations this year Ireland began with wins at home to England (27-22), in Scotland (32-18) and in Wales (7-18). They lost a crucial game at home to France (42-27) before finishing off with a 22-17 win in Italy. Although they had the same win / loss record as the top 2 sides Ireland finished third in the standings, 1 point behind England and 2 shy of France.
In the November international series of 2024 Ireland lost at home to New Zealand (23-13) before wins over Argentina (22-19), Fiji (52-17) and Australia (22-19).
South Africa:
The Boks took on Italy in Turin last week, they were 18.5 point favourites on the bookmakers main handicap line and the cap provided to be accurate as they came away with a 32-14 win. There was more first half red card controversy with Franco Mostert sent off after just 11 minutes but the Boks led 10-3 at half time and scored a total of 4 tries through Marco van Staden, Morne van den Berg, Grant Williams and Ethan Hooker.
Earlier South Africa came through their much-anticipated clash with France in Paris with a 32-17 win. The bookmakers struggled to name a favourite in the pre-match betting and a red card for Lood de Jager late in the first half looked set to make the second 40 minutes a real struggle with France leading 14-13 at the break. Numerical parity was restored when France had a man sent to the bin and from just over 20 minutes out the Boks pulled away. France scored 2 ties and Cobus Reinach, Andre Esterhuizen, Grant Williams and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu went over for the Boks.
South Africa began their end of year program against Japan at Wembley and they scored 9 tries on their way to a 61-7 victory, easily covering a pre-match handicap line which had opened at -38.5 points.
Prior to that South Africa clinched the Rugby Championship title, winning 4 and losing 2 of their matches.
In the November international series of 2024 South Africa won in Scotland (32-15), in England (29-20) and Wales (45-12).
After this the Boks will take on Wales.
Recent Head to Head
Jul 2024 INT Durban South Africa 24-25 Ireland
Jul 2024 INT Pretoria South Africa 27-10 Ireland
Sep 2023 RWC Paris South Africa 8-13 Ireland
Nov 2022 INT Dublin Ireland 19-16 South Africa
Team News
Ireland: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Cian Prendergast, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Tom Farrell
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Andre Esterhuizen, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok
The Betting
Ireland +7.5 points at 9/10
South Africa -6.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
BET 1 unit Williams last SA try score at 11/1 Pokerbet
Williams will be on late and he has an excellent strike rate against tiring legs - this looks worth an interest - my main bet is Boks minus - details in the blog
I am going to give the Bet Builder a skip as I cannot find a combo I like
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
