Justin Bishop flew to South Africa overnight in time to link up with the Irish s quad here in the scenic seaside setting of Wilderness, just outside George (the venue for Wednesday's game against the SW Districts), as a replacement for the unfortunate James Topping. Bishop, a disappointment on the Development tour last summer but a rejuvenated winger with London Irish this season, is rewarded for an outstanding series of displays in the Sunbury club's latest escape from relegation. A Simon Geoghegan-like figure, with an equally bottomless well of enthusiasm, a 747 was probably an optional extra in his case.
No less unlucky than Topping, who had made a stunning start to the tour, is Daragh O'Mahony. The Moseley left-winger, who scored a try in his sole international against Italy this season, had initially been chosen as an addition to the tour, but picked up a shoulder injury in the Benidorm Sevens a week ago which has sidelined him for a month.
Niall Woods and John McWeeney were probably the other wingers who would have been considered, although Bishop can also cover as centre. With that in mind, and given the presence of five centres in the 34-man squad, the Irish management will monitor Jonathan Bell's progress over the next few days. But the Northampton's centre's latest hamstring pull will probably rule him out for the remainder of the tour.
Keith Wood arrives on Friday to bring the complement to 35 players.
The team to play South West Districts, who lost and beat Boland in edging the latter out of a semi-final place in the VodaCom Cup and are reckoned to have a stronger pack, will be announced after training in George this morning.
Manager Donal Lenihan, who spent virtually all of yesterday on the phone organising Topping's replacement, has said the second selection of the tour will be "significantly different" from the first.
This suggests that no more than three or four of last Saturday's starting line-up in the 48-35 win over Boland will be picked to play again, and this partly depends on the injuries to Ciaran Clarke (ankle), Rob Henderson (hamstring) and Malcolm O'Kelly (knee), with Paul Wallace again kept in reserve.
The team may fall along the following lines: Clarke (or O'Shea); R Wallace, Keane, Henderson, Maggs or Hickie; Humphreys, O'Meara; Fitzpatrick, Jackman, Hayes or Clohessy, Galwey, Fulcher, Corkery, Foley, Wallace. Mick Galwey would be an obvious candidate for the captaincy in the absence of Paddy Johns.
Meanwhile, Springbok coach Nick Mallett has selected a fairly predictable squad for the first Test against Ireland in Bloemfontein on Saturday week. As was expected, full-back Andre Joubert and winger James Small (legends in apparent decline) have been omitted, while the main talking point is the inclusion of the prodigious Gaffie du Toit as understudy to established out-half Henry Honiball.
The 21-year-old du Toit, who was playing on the Western Province under-21 team only last season, has been in sparkling form for the Griqualand West team which clinched the VodaCom Cup on Saturday with a 57-0 win over the Golden Lions.
The bulk of Mallett's all-conquering tourists of Europe last autumn have been retained, with Ollie le Roux replacing the injured Os du Randt.
Springbok Squad: P Montgomery, S Terblanche, M Hendricks, A Snyman, P Muller, F Smith, P Rossouw, H Honiball, G du Toit, J van der Westhuizen, W Swanepoel, G Teichmann (capt), R Erasmus, A Venter, A Aitken, B Skinstad, K Otto, M Andrews, S Boome, R Kempson, A Garvey, N Drotske, J Dalton, O le Roux.
