South Africa vs Ireland LIVE rugby: Result after Ciaran Frawley kick stuns Springboks in brutal battle

It’s two from two so far today for the Rugby Championship sides, with Argentina hosting a second-string, scandal-hit France a little later. It’s Andy Farrell’s 50th game today as Ireland look to restore a bit of Northern Hemisphere pride.

“We are always looking for ways of growing our leadership group and team,” Farrell tells Sky ahead of kick of. “There are always challenges ,but the main challenge for this week is making sure we are a better version of ourselves. South Africa are going to be better, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

This would be some win if Ireland pull it off today. In Dan Sheehan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki and Hugo Keenan they are missing the spine of their side, four figures who have been so influential over the last 12 months particularly. We’ve seen them triumph through adversity in the past, and there is still plenty of quality in their 23, but they are certainly up against it Durban.

Stand-in skipper Caelan Doris feels a painful review of Ireland’s opening Test defeat to South Africa has given his side an extra edge going into the series finale.

Andy Farrell’s back-to-back Six Nations champions made a slow start in Pretoria last weekend and, despite an improved second-half showing, slipped to a 27-20 loss to the Springboks.

After that scrum last week, all eyes will be on what impact the South Africa bench can have this evening as the Bomb Squad look to again make their powerful presence known in the second half. Ireland actually enjoyed a bit of early success against the replacement Springboks front row, but the sheer size and skill of the burly blokes eventually told. While many of the faces are familiar, the penalty try was a moment on debut that Gerhard Steenekamp will no doubt tell any future grandchildren about, the Bulls loosehead building off the back of an excellent season in the United Rugby Championship to make a real impression.

It’s probably worth at least one more look...

Influential centre Bundee Aki starred at last year’s World Cup in France and had started all of Ireland’s major matches since round three of the 2023 Six Nations.

Following a bruising opening encounter, the 34-year-old’s physicality and bullish ball-carrying skills will be a big miss.

Robbie Henshaw has shifted to inside centre to fill the void and will be joined in midfield by Leinster team-mate Ringrose, who will make his first international start since the World Cup after injury ruined his Six Nations campaign.

Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel go past Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie as the most capped centre pairing in Springboks history today, the duo in many ways embodying the best qualities of this South Africa side. It is as much for their defensive ability as their attacking gifts that they have commanded their places for so long but De Allende particularly showed off his array of skills with the Springboks evolving towards a more adventurous gameplan last week, the inside centre impressing as both a carrier and distributor.

“Last week’s game was a proper test match,” De Allende said earlier this wek. “It was good to be part of the match, and we know how tough they are. We have no doubt they’ll come at us even harder this week.

“They’ll definitely come out firing, and I think they may try a few new things and possibly play a more expansive game. But we really want to win this one and build good momentum.”

Andy Farrell expects world champions South Africa to be “twice as good” during the second Test in Durban but believes Ireland can still salvage a series draw.

The Springboks will bid to cement their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation on Saturday following last weekend’s 27-20 success in Pretoria.

Ireland have not lost consecutive Test matches since round two of the 2021 Six Nations and head coach Farrell hopes to see significant room for improvement from his side.

Ireland are without Craig Casey after the worrying incident involving the scrum half in Pretoria, while Dan Sheehan’s suspected ACL tear is likely to rule him out until next year. Bundee Aki’s shoulder injury has given Andy Farrell more reason to fret, though Garry Ringrose impressed off the bench last week and unites with long-time centre partner Robbie Henshaw.

Caelan Doris captains the side with Peter O’Mahony only on the bench as Tadhg Beirne moves into the back row. Lock James Ryan, scrum half Conor Murray and hooker Ronan Kelleher are brought in to the starting side.

Ireland XV: 1 Andrew Porter, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 3 Tadhg Furlong; 4 Joe McCarthy, 5 James Ryan; 6 Tadhg Beirne, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Caelan Doris (capt.); 9 Conor Murray, 10 Jack Crowley; 11 James Lowe, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 13 Garry Ringrose, 14 Calvin Nash; 15 Jamie Osborne.

Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony; 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey.

Rassie Erasmus is able to name the most experienced Springboks side in history as the South Africa coach sticks with an unchanged matchday 23. Six forwards are again included among the replacements after making a decisive impact in the first Test.

South Africa XV: 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe; 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Franco Mostert; 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Kwagga Smith; 9 Faf de Klerk, 10 Handre Pollard; 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Cheslin Kolbe; 15 Willie le Roux.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden; 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.