Botha ruled out of Ireland clash

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Scrum.com

November 28, 2009

South Africa's Bakkies Botha will not be partnering Victor Matfield at Croke Park © Getty Images

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Teams: Argentina | Ireland | South Africa

South Africa have suffered a setback ahead of today's autumn Test against Ireland with the withdrawal of lock Bakkies Botha.

Botha has failed to recover from a back injury so Andries Bekker takes his place in the starting line-up. Bekker's place on the bench goes to scrum-half Francois Hougaard, leaving the injury-hit Springboks with no dedicated second-row cover among the substitutes.

Ireland 'A' registered their sixth successive victory of 2009 with an emphatic 31-0 defeat of Argentina Jaguares at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.

Johne Murphy crossed twice while Ryan Caldwell, Ian Dowling and John Fogarty also scored tries with Ian Humphreys slotting three conversions. Ireland drew first blood after 12 minutes, Donnacha Ryan and Humphreys combining to send Caldwell over after the Jaguares had come under heavy pressure.

Outside-centre Fergus McFadden made significant inroads into the visitors' defence, eventually leading to Dowling touching down for the second try. Ireland entered the interval 12-0 up and made a dynamic start to the second half, crossing just three minutes in.

Skipper Mick O'Driscoll won a lineout and a maul started that resulted in Fogarty barging his way over. Winger Ian Dowling became an increasingly prominent figure, making the initial break that led to Murphy's first try. Humphreys was involved in Murphy's second with Felix Jones creating havoc before supplying the scoring pass to complete the rout.

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