South Africa vs Ireland: A look at the scrum-half battle

The Irish have officially named their team set to take on the Springboks in their second test on Saturday. All eyes will ascend on Kings Parks stadium for the final game of the two-game series.

Bragging rights will be on the line for both nations as the Irish who are reigning 6Nations champions, will look to get back to winning ways against the World Champions, having lost to the hosts for the first time since 2017.

Ireland were dealt major injury blows in last weeks 27-20 defeat in Pretoria, resulting in the loss of hooker Dan Sheehan, centre Bundee Aki and scrumhalf Craig Casey.

The Irish have found themselves in somewhat of a scrum-half crisis with their talisman and first choice number nine Jamison Gibson-Park having missed the entire series due to injury.

However, not all is lost for the Irish as well experienced and longtime servant of the Irish Jersey, Conor Murray, has stepped up to start at scrum-half.

This will pit experience against experience as Faf de Klerk will start for South Africa again in an unchanged side.

Boasting 57 caps for his country, Faf de Klerk has proven time and time again that he is Rassie’s first choice at half-back, ahead of Montpellier’s Cobus Reinach and the Sharks’ Grant Williams and Jaden Hendrikse.

On the other hand, with the rise of Gibson-Park, we have seen Conor Murray fall slightly out of favour from Murray’s starting line-up. However, 117 international caps is no joke, and a player of his calibre always has space in the team, especially with his ability to influence the flow of the game.

Here we look at some quick head-to-head stats between the two Scrum-halfs.