Keith Earls is expected to captain Ireland on Tuesday when the tourists take on the Maori All Blacks at the Sky Stadium.
The Munster and Ireland veteran, who earned his 97th Test cap in the series opener against the All Blacks nine days ago, missed out on Saturday’s second victory in Dunedin against Mack Hansen, but will return in this second game at the outside center as a leader. coach Andy Farrell manages his stretched squad for the penultimate game of this demanding tour.
There will be no rose-smelling weather for the Irish in Wellington this week. A first Test victory against the All Blacks in New Zealand made history over the weekend, but the team have since traveled to the nation’s capital for the final week in the country and second game against the Maori on Tuesday (8:05 a.m. Irish time) ahead of a third decisive test for the series this Saturday.
The head coach has always put games against Maori on par with the three Tests as important markers for the development of his extended squad a year away from the World Cup in France and after losing the first of their meetings in Hamilton on June 29. , Ireland will want to equalize this mini-series to continue the momentum gained by the victory over New Zealand.
“Listen, we’ve made a bit of history for ourselves, little old Ireland, we’ve earned the right to look back to last weekend, haven’t we, to see what we can do last week ?” said Farrell.
“There are bigger things to think about when it comes to this tour for us. We have young guys in this dressing room who have been inspired by them (the Test side) who want to come back on Tuesday night and perform well against Maori.
“These guys went through a lot of pain – that’s what we put them through – the pressure to take them out of their comfort zone and the weeks were totally different from what they were used to before because of trying to play five games in such a short time and there was no whining.
“Mentally they have been very tough and they will also support the guys to make sure they are in good shape for Tuesday.” The Irish side suffered many losses on this demanding tour with consequences for Farrell’s selection for this game. Center James Hume has already returned to Ulster and is receiving treatment for a groin injury he suffered in Hamilton, Ireland. With Farrell now likely to start Bundee Aki, who captained this team in Game 1, and Robbie Henshaw in Test 3, it could mean a start at outside center for Earls alongside Hume’s replacement Stuart McCloskey at 12 years. Earls started the first Maori game. on the wing, but the back three could see Mike Lowry at fullback with Jimmy O’Brien and Jordan Larmour on the wings.
Fly-half Harry Byrne will have been penciled in to face Maori but is now on his way back to Ireland with a hamstring injury, leaving Leinster team-mate Ciaran Frawley the likely candidate to keep his place for this midweek uncapped team at 10 partnered with Craig Casey at scrum half.
Niall Scannell is the potential hooker starter with Dave Heffernan who retired for 12 days following a concussion in the first Test, but Jeremy Loughman is likely to return at the end of his mandatory rest period which has started after his confirmed concussion in the opening Maori game.
The Irish bench includes a number of players doubling as Test replacement duties with hooker Rob Herring, back rower Jack Conan and Munster half-backs Conor Murray and Joey Carbery all potentially back in action while Farrell could give Hansen more time after his return. of Covid isolation to start the second test.
Maori All Blacks head coach Clayton McMillan named his squad to take on the tourists on Sunday with eight players included from Wellington’s Super Rugby franchise, the Hurricanes, including All Black TJ Perenara.
The scrum-half comes off the bench after Hamilton’s 32-17 win a fortnight ago to lead the side to Sky Stadium, succeeding co-captain and fellow Test nine Brad Weber in a side showing six changes since that first encounter .
“We expect Ireland to come back strong on Tuesday,” McMillan said, “we learned a lot from that first game in Hamilton and I’m sure they did too.”
J Moorby (hurricanes); S Stevenson (Chiefs), B Sullivan (Hurricanes), A Nankivell (Chiefs), C Garden-Bachop (Highlanders); J Ioane (Chiefs), TJ Perenara (Hurricanes) – captain; O Norris (Chiefs), K Eklund (Blues), T Lomax (Hurricanes); M Selby-Rickit (Highlanders), I Walker-Leawere (Hurricanes); R Prinsep (Hurricanes), B Harmon (Highlanders), C Grace (Crusaders).
L Apisal (Auckland), T Williams (Crusaders), M Renata (Blues), M Hicks (Highlanders), C Delany (Hurricanes), B Weber (Chiefs), R Love (Hurricanes), B Proctor (Hurricanes).
Mr Lowry (Ulster); J Larmour (Leinster), K Earls (Munster) – captain, S McCloskey (Ulster), J O’Brien (Leinster), ; C Frawley (Leinster), C Casey (Munster); J Loughman (Munster), N Scannell (Munster), T O’Toole (Ulster); K Treadwell (Ulster), J McCarthy (Leinster); C Prendergast (Connacht), N Timoney (Ulster), G Coombes (Munster).
R Herring (Ulster), E Byrne (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), R Baird (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), J Carbery (Munster), M Hansen (Connacht).
Karl Dickson (England)
