Disappointing night. The proverbial game of two halves. Was seated in one of the corners away from where most of the action happened unfortunately and haven't watched any highlights yet but I've heard the Springboks were very dirty, is that true? Also did Barnes just completely change his mind about how to ref the rucks and scrums in the second half?? Delighted for Macca getting man of the match, he got a big cheer from the section we were sitting in anyway, with O'Connell out for the Argies I wonder will he be rested for the Fiji game..

I know this is slightly off topic but I loved Shane Horgan as a commentator. Finally glad someone brought George Hook up on the bullsh*t he was spouting. Horgan nailed him on the black jersey item for a start.

While losing tight games you are up in at home is never good imo there are any positives to take from this game.

Pack from 1 - 7 were good with Macca being excellent followed closely by healy and Strauss with Ryan, Henry and Pom also justifying their selection. Ross scrummed well until he tired and could have gone 10 min earlier. If bent had a few games under his belt ross prob wud have gone at 60 but i have to admit Bent looked the Part in the scrum and had 1 good carry when he did get on.(leinsters 1 and 2nd choice at TH,hooker and LH all played in this game which must be a first).

Murray and Sexton worked well and were well supported by Darce, Earls and zebo particularly, wingers less so. Zebo carried for 54m which was well ahead of of players on pitch. Breakdown work was very good and 5 pens came from work here in first half.

Turning point- imo this was twofold. sexton missed a kickable peno just before halftime and then we didnt get a blatant kickable one on bowe at start of 2nd half. Against top 3 opposition these can be vital.
secondly Barnes seemed to change his opinion on how breakdown should be reffed in 2nd half and he allowed SA slow our ball down all 2nd half which he was penalising all 1st half. I think the penalty count at halftime was 3 time as many in our favour bit was even at 15 a piece at the end of the game.The Pieterson Frontal charge imo was reckless and could/should have been red. It irritates that it carried the same sanction as pulling down a maul.
Apart from above there imo was also a bit of halftime pyschology at play also. One team telling themselves lets keep it going lads more of the same while next door the other team are taking the doors off the hinges in anger and frustration at a poor display.

Negatives- The big one is the fitness levels. the pack and some backs(darcy in particular) appeared to be flat out on their feet very early in 2nd half. It was a very physical game and maybe the bench should have been used earlier but Pom, Henry and Ross particularly tired around the 60 and should have gone(where possible) then.Darcy looked wrecked all 2nd half. The misse tackle came then. The Maul for the try way very impressive and when they get moving can be impossible to stop. This one was particularly impressive in that we couldnt even stop it illegally until the 3rd attempt.
Heaslips performance was poor. he took one for the team but in general imo he was poor. the stats back this. he had 2 tackles and carried for 11m.

Overall- Imo this pack deserves more time together.Heaslip gets another chance ecause there is noone fit to replace him atm. Its been a while since ive seen an irish pack go about there work with such aggression and entusiasm and there is balance in the backrow with Poms tackling and aggression and Henrys ability on the floor. Throw in a fit O brien at 8 and its got wonderful potential. (im not discounting ferrises ability but with his injuries we may not see a huge amount of him).
Pom gave 2 penos away which cost 3 pts(1 for not releasing which was harsh as as he wasnt stopping ball going back and Barnes failed to penalise SA all 2nd half for same offence, 2nd for pulling down at lineout which was silly but i have some sympathy for him on this as something appeared to go awry with his lifters) Henry gave away 2 also.

It wasnt brilliant by any means but there was enough there to give me hope for the future if they are stuck with.

Gotta say I was impressed by Bent when he came on. Was glad to that the other guys clearly seem to like him and were happy with his performance. Good on Strauss for singing the National Anthem as well in for a penny in for a pound etc.

Jamie Heaslip will captain Ireland in the opening game of the 2012 Guinness Series against South Africa this Saturday.
The Leinster No.8 will be leading his country for the first time when he walks the team onto the Aviva Stadium pitch as part of a side that contains one new cap in the starting team and a further three uncapped players among the replacements.
Richardt Strauss will earn his first cap for Ireland at hooker in the front row alongside his provincial colleagues Cian Healy and Mike Ross. Mike McCarthy is selected in the second row alongside Donnacha Ryan, with Chris Henry selected to start at openside in the back row, with Peter O'Mahony selected at blindside.

In the backs, Simon Zebo will be earning his first start for Ireland at full back, in a back three that has plenty of experience in Andrew Trimble and Tommy Bowe, who will be earning his 50th international cap for Ireland since making his debut against the USA in 2004.

Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray are selected as the halfbacks with Gordon D'Arcy and Keith Earls completing the starting lineup as the centre partnership.

Among the replacements, forwards David Kilcoyne, Michael Bent and Iain Henderson are all in line to make their international debuts should they be called into the game.

Ireland Team to play South Africa on Saturday, 10th November 2012 in the 2012 Guinness Series, Aviva Stadium, Kick off 17.30:

(Player/club/province/international caps)

15 - Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster/1)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster/49)
13 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster/32)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster/69)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster/48)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St.Mary's College/Leinster/32)
9 - Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster/12)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster/33)
2 - Richardt Strauss (Old Wesley/Leinster)*
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster/22)
4 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster/21)
5 - Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht/4)
6 - Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster/7)
7 - Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster/2)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster/50) Captain

Replacements:
16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster/21)
17 - David Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster)*
18 - Michael Bent (Leinster)*
19 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster/88)
20 - Iain Henderson (Queens University/Ulster)*
21 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster/45)
22 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster/124)
23 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster/14)

Absolutely delighted for Macca - he's been phenomenal for us, and I have no doubt he'll do well on Saturday. I'm instantly more interested in this game!

Thats a really surprising team. Dan Tuohy must be wondering what he did wrong. Really happy for Macca. That said there's alot of new caps there so don't rate our chance's that high against the Springboks now.

What's the full team

www.irishrugby.ie/ireland/live_streaming.php

Confirmed. Absolutely delighted for him. Bent is on the bench

Cronin kilcoyne bent o'callaghan Henderson reddan o'gara McFadden

Peter O'Reilly leaked the team on his Twitter this morning. Macca starting!!

Zebo Bowe Earls DArcy Trimble Sexton Murray; Healy Strauss Ross Ryan McCarthy O'Mahony, Henry, Heaslip (c)

Would be great if he could get an appearance. I see kidney going with DOC at 4, Tuohy at 5 and Ryan at 6 so Macca might get a sub placement.

Have to agree with Salmson unfortunately. There's no way Kidney will start Macca, although he is the obvious replacement for POC with Ryan playing 4 and Macca 5.

I'm only waiting for him to start ROG with Sexton on the bench!

swift4prez wrote: ...hope this will give mike mccarthy a chance to start and show what he can do

There are 2 fit Munster locks in the squad. Not in a blind fit will he start.

paul o connell out now. thats a big injury list vs south africa but its going well that kidney will get sacked. hope this will give mike mccarthy a chance to start and show what he can do

The only positives I can take out of the Bent situation are:

• Bent might turn out to be the next coming of Syd Millar in a green jersey.


• He might turn out to be sh*te, but it will speed up Kidney's departure and the beginning hopefully of a new Irish Rugby renaissance.

Taranaki were getting huge praise when I was down in New Zealand. They only lost their semi final in extra time to Canterbury, who have won it 5 years in a row

What's been really bothering me about the Bent call up even more than the fact that he hasn't played in Ireland at all yet, is that he really doesn't have an amazing level of experience and no one in the media has called the Irish management on this point.

He's got 30 caps over 3 years for an ITM club which is roughly rabo quality, sometimes more sometimes less, and only 11 caps over two years of super rugby, but 3 of the super rugby caps he got this year were preseason games which I don't think should count for much.

I don't know if his five other games were starts or more likely sub appearances. Loughney or Hagan are obviously about equal to him caps wise and at least have some experience in the Irish set up; Loughney has some international experience and Hagan is at least familiar with the other front rowers whereas Bent is barely over his jet lag.

People like Thornley have been saying 'do we want to see another twickenham' as a justification for this call up and if he turns out to be our th saviour we'll all be happy but realistically if Ross went off early against SA and Bent came on it could be five times worse.