Ireland to reluctantly accept CJ Stander one-match ban

Time constraints, more than anything else, are likely to leave the Irish management little alternative but to reluctantly accept CJ Stander’s one-match suspension which has ruled him out of this Saturday’s second test in Johannesburg.

Although the disciplinary hearing following Stander's red card in last Saturday's historic first test win in Cape Town began on Sunday morning, after an overnight adjournment which resulted in the case resuming in Johannesburg the following morning, the judiciary officer, Terry Willis of Australia, did not reach his verdict until late on Monday evening.

The case comes under the auspices of the southern hemisphere governing body SANZAR rather than World Rugby and furthermore, like everyone else, the Irish management were still awaiting Willis’ written report (which presumably will be quite lengthy) at lunchtime today, without which they cannot make an appeal.

Richie Murphy, the squad's skills and kicking coach, commented: "Unfortunately we can't make that decision yet because we haven't received the notification, the report at the moment. We're in a situation where we're half way through the training week already. CJ obviously hasn't been training with the team so it's probably a situation where it's probably a little bit too late already."

According to a statement by SA Rugby: “After hearing the evidence and submissions made by Gerrie Swart, representative of the player, the Judicial Officer was not satisfied on the balance of probability that the referee, Mathieu Raynal of France, was wrong when he issued the red card to the player.”

However, Murphy also expressed the Irish management’s disappointment with the verdict. “We’re disappointed. We’re disappointed in the verdict. It’s one of those things where a player’s got injured on the pitch and we’re disappointed for that as well, that was never the intention from CJ. I suppose the process that he’s gone through over the last three days has just taken forever. It’s been very slow. So, that’s something that’s probably gone against CJ at this stage.”

The Irish management are particularly perplexed that Willis has apparently suspended Stander for 'a dangerous tackle' given it was collision with Pat Lambie which they maintain was accidental following Stander's attempted block down.

“Yeah, it seems strange to me that that was the case,” said Murphy, “but that’s what we’ve been told. Until we saw the full report I suppose it’s very difficult for us to comment on that. We were told that it was a dangerous tackle. It’s a collision, I don’t think it’s a tackle.”

It’s also worth noting that Stander has an unblemished disciplinary record when it comes to dangerous or foul play, his one and only yellow card having been for a technical offence. The suspension compounds the first red card of his career in his first test on South African soil for his adopted country.

"He's been a fantastic guy in Irish rugby since he's come over in the three years that he's been there, four years now I think it is. He's been fantastic for Munster. He gives real leadership qualities within the team. His work rate is really high and obviously he's made of granite so he's one of those guys that will get you on the front foot."

Murphy also strongly intimated that Rhys Ruddock will be a straight replacement in his usual position of blindside flanker, rather than shift Iain Henderson to the number six role.

“So, yea he’ll be missed but with that it gives opportunities to other guys like Rhys Ruddock who’s had a really good season this year. We’ve got Rhys there who can step into his shoes, if needed.”

The Irish squad have a clean bill of health after going through training at a nearby school in Johannesburg today according to Murphy. “Yea, everybody came through training good, with no injuries. Everyone trained today. A reasonably high intensity session and everyone came out feeling good.”

Asked how much better Ireland might be with 15 players for 80 minutes this week, Murphy said: "That's really hard to say and one week to the next is a totally different situation. At times we were a little bit lucky at the weekend. SA knocked one or two balls on, got stripped once or twice in our 22 and we'd acknowledge that. Come Saturday, it will probably be a very different game and it's very hard to compare 14 to 15. On the day we had 14 men and managed to get the job done. I think we need to park that now and move on to this week's challenge in Johannesburg, which will be completely different to last weekend."

The Speringboks committed 22 turnovers last Saturday and Ireland are pretty certain that, with a game under their belts, they won’t be so profligate and error-prone this Saturday.

“When you look at the players they have available to them they’re an extremely good side. We’re under no illusions that last week they were a little bit below par and we’re under no illusions that from one week to the next things will change. Ireland will change massively and so will the Springboks.”

“This week will be very different and we’re pretty sure that the Springboks won’t give us the opportunities that they gave us last week.”