Ireland v South Africa: Rassie Erasmus names unchanged team for second Test

While Ireland are struggling with injuries having lost Dan Sheehan and Craig Casey with doubts over several others, the world champions are in an enviably strong position after a bruising first Test.

Not that the coach is expecting any less of a challenge after the 27-20 win at Loftus Versfeld.

“It’s always tough facing Ireland,” Erasmus said.

“They are a quality team, they are ranked second in the world, and as we saw last week, they never stop fighting, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that awaits us this weekend.

“We have no doubt they’ll come out even stronger this week, but we also identified the areas of the game that we need to improve on, and it’s vital for us to build on our performance in our quest to win both matches.”

It is the most experienced line-up in Springbok history.

“We don’t really look at such things when we select the team, but this shows how blessed we are with the depth in the squad and the quality of the players we have,” Erasmus…