Big decisions facing Farrell ahead of South Africa trip

As the Bulls and Glasgow drew the curtain down on the United Rugby Championship in Pretoria yesterday, it brought us towards the final chapter of this seemingly endless rugby season.

It's now more than a year since Andy Farrell's Ireland squad gathered at the Irish Rugby high performance facility in Dublin to begin pre-season training for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and we’re still three weeks away from the final call.

The rugby season won't exactly be petering out; a two-Test series away to the world champions South Africa after a grueling season could go badly wrong if not taken seriously enough, and as such Farrell has named a largely settled squad for what is just Ireland’s third tour of South Africa this century.

The Ireland coach isn’t expected to make too many drastic changes to his side from the Six Nations championship success earlier this year.

Injuries and absences have forced his hand in some respects though, and we look at the decisions he faces before Ireland and South Africa meet in their first Test at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday 6 July.

Who starts at scrum-half?

The big surprise from Tuesday’s squad announcement was the absence of Jamison Gibson-Park, who suffered a hamstring injury in Leinster’s URC semi-final defeat to the Bulls.

Had the 32-year-old been fit, he would most likely have been a locked-in starter for Farrell in both Tests in Pretoria and Durban, and his absence creates an intriguing dilemma for the Ireland head coach.

Connacht’s Caolin Blade has been brought in as the third scrum-half in the squad, but the selection trends of recent seasons would suggest Munster pair Conor Murray and Craig Casey are most likely to be the Test match pair used this summer.

At Munster, Casey appears to be ahead of