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IRELAND v SOUTH AFRICA MATCH FACTS

* SOUTH Africa and Ireland have played each other 21 times since 1906, with the Springboks winning 16 Tests, Ireland triumphant in four and one ending in a draw.

* BRIAN O'Driscoll's retirement and Gordon D'Arcy's recent calf injury mean Ireland go from 212 combined centre caps at the end of the Six Nations to just three midfield appearances, with Jared Payne making his Test debut alongside Robbie Henshaw.

* HOOKER Sean Cronin will win his 36th Ireland cap against the Springboks - but will make just his seventh Test start.

* IRELAND show six changes from the starting line-up that closed out

the Six Nations title with a 22-20 victory in Paris on March 15, with some 17 men missing through injury.

* IRELAND'S South Africa-born replacement hooker Richardt Strauss, whose cousin Adriaan is in the Springbok squad, is back in Ireland colours for the first time since June 2013 after battling back from heart surgery and a hamstring tear.

* HEYNEKE Meyer has fielded an unchanged starting line-up for just the fifth time in his 34-Test tenure as Springboks head coach.

* VICTOR Matfield will extend his record South Africa caps haul to 118.