Both players suffered knee injuries against Australia in Adelaide last weekend, which prompted the decision to send them back to the Leicester Tigers and Cell C Sharks respectively for further medical advice.

Elton Jantjies (hand) and Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee), meanwhile, will remain in camp, as they are expected to recover sufficiently from their injuries for the last two matches of the team’s campaign.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said no replacements would be called up at this stage as they have sufficient cover within the squad. However, if the need arises, they will call on reinforcements.

“It’s always unfortunate to lose players in a squad, but this opens the door for other players to step in and showcase what they can do in those positions,” said Nienaber.

“We will now have 32 players in camp and with Elton expected to recover for the matches against Argentina and players such as Andre (Esterhuizen) and Jesse (Kriel) and Frans (Steyn) all being capable centres, we are well covered.

“Our plan from the outset of the season was to give most of the players in our expanded squad game time as we build towards the Rugby World Cup, and this involved rotating a few players, so we’ll use this opportunity to build our depth.”

An Emerging Ireland squad will play three fixtures in the Toyota Challenge hosted in Bloemfontein, South Africa this coming autumn.

The Emerging Ireland squad will be led by Simon Easterby with other national team coaches Paul O’Connell, Mike Catt and John Fogarty supporting.

The 35 player squad will play three Currie Cup sides across a nine day period – the Windhoek Draught Griquas (30^th September), the Airlink Pumas (5^th October) and the Toyota Cheetahs (9^th October).  All fixtures will take place at the Toyota Stadium, the home of the Cheetahs.

David Nucifora, IRFU Performance Director, commented, “This opportunity presented itself quite late but the drawn Series against the Māori All Blacks in July highlighted the value of exposing less experienced players to the rigours of an international set-up and the benefit that can be garnered from a challenging touring environment and exposure to the national coaching group.

This tournament will provide a significant development opportunity for a group of talented young players.”

Simon Easterby, Emerging Ireland Head Coach,

“The growth we witnessed in the less experienced players in New Zealand over the four weeks was incredible to see.  The two Māori fixtures were invaluable in broadening our talent pool ahead of RWC23 and the coaching group see this as another opportunity to increase the depth of talent available to the national squad ahead of the World Cup in France and beyond.”

The national coaching team will utilise this window to replicate the demands of the senior environment with the aim of accelerating the development of the Emerging Ireland group which will feature a host of players who have stood out at Ireland U20 level over the past few seasons.

Toyota Challenge 2022

Friday 30^th September 2022
Windhoek Draught Griquas vs Emerging Ireland
KO: 12:45 (Irish time)

Wednesday 5^th October 2022
Airlink Pumas vs Emerging Ireland
KO: 16:00 (Irish time)

Sunday 9^th October 2022
Toyota Cheetahs vs Emerging Ireland
KO: 12:00 (Irish time)

First five-eighths Beauden Barrett said: “We don’t want to be like other teams. We need to be the best team we can be.

“There’s no doubt there will be a little bit of that showing through in weeks to come, but we’ve still got to be the expressive All Blacks that we know we can be.

“We’re figuring out the way we want to play.”

But penalties continue to be a frustration in speeding their transition.

“We can’t let ourselves down, especially if it is individual discipline issues. If it’s around ruck entry, little things like that, we need to tidy up, that’s around our good habits. It’s something at the forefront of our mind and we’re all aware of the implication it has on our team.”

Barrett said there had been some tension around the side, but there was also plenty of determination to take out the Championship.

“It’s a great competition this year, anyone can win on their day, and it’s going to be an interesting few weeks to finish.”

Having recovered from a neck injury sustained in a fall when tackled in the air in Mbombela, South Africa, Barrett said he recognised he needed to strengthen that area and had been working on it in the gym.

There was also a changed emphasis with the combination of Ian Foster and new selector-coach Joe Schmidt.

“It’s all about building good habits and doing it all the time rather than sometimes. Joe has been good in that space.

“There’s no doubt he and Fozzie are finding their feet and how they’re going to run things, but Joe has been awesome, and so has Fozzie.

“I think we’ll see the fruits of that hopefully this weekend and games to come.”

Regaining the instinctual qualities which marked the better All Blacks sides of the past was part of their focus.

“When the pressure comes on, naturally we want to run the ball and keep it in hand. It feels so natural to us.

“We’ve identified that in games we’ve lost – we may need to kick the ball a little bit more. It seems unnatural, but it’s being aware of that. And then looking to attack in different ways – everyone on our feet, chasing kicks, getting those 50-50 bounces, or flooding rucks and looking for turnovers.

“It’s what other teams do well, particularly South Africa, play low-risk games then put the ball up in the air and look to feed off those sorts of errors.

“Again, we’re not going to be like any other team, we’ve just got to figure out, and are figuring out, the way we want to play.”

Barrett expects more of the same from Argentina in Hamilton. They had a good blueprint, although he expected them to move the ball around more. They know what works for them and will continue to back their defence. And they would continue to focus on the breakdown.

“They’re machines, they run around like robots, they’re very efficient with all due respect. They know how to retain ball and they do it very effectively.”