Leinster play down visa error as Kiwis get ready for return journey
Neither of the two players were set to play against the Kings
LEINSTER head coach Leo Cullen has confirmed that Isa Nacewa and Jamison Gibson-Park will return to South Africa tomorrow ahead of the province’s Pro14 clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
The two New Zealanders were forced to return to Dublin on Wednesday after arriving in Johannesburg without the necessary visa, after not realising that a 20year-old free travel arrangement between New Zealand and South Africa had ended in January.
As a result, Cullen has had to plan for today’s game with the Southern Kings without his captain and second-choice scrumhalf, but speaking at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth yesterday, the Leinster boss insisted the embarrassing error hasn’t overly effected his plans.
‘We actually named to the group of players a starting XV on the Tuesday before we left, and neither of those players were in the starting XV so in terms of the disruptions to the group it’s pretty minimal,’ he said, confirming the pair will return to South Africa ahead of the Cheetahs game on Friday.
‘From our end, it’s all new travelling to South Africa with a group so the logistics around that, it’s the first time we’ve had to do it.
‘The issue from us is we hadn’t applied for the visa, got on our flight and landed in Jo’burg. The two players who were both travelling on New Zealand passports, it was only discovered then,’ explained Cullen.
‘The two players, Isa Nacewa and Jamison Gibson-Park, had both travelled with Super Rugby teams in the past and not needed visas. They had been asked prior to that had they needed visas, which they hadn’t.
‘That’s something that has changed recently, it’s an oversight on our part. The players have travelled back to Ireland, got the visa issues sorted and are ready to go and travel back out and will meet up with us on Sunday when we travel to Cape Town after the game. They’ll be back involved, ready for preparations for next week’s game.’
With Nick McCarthy joining the squad to act as cover for GibsonPark, Luke McGrath has been handed the No 9 shirt for today’s historic game.
‘I actually had my Under 20s World Cup in Cape Town in 2012, so that was the only time I was here before now,’ the 24-year-old said.
‘I really enjoyed that World Cup, South Africa actually won it that year but we beat them in opening game, so that was nice.’
Despite the Kings suffering a disappointing start to their Pro14 campaign, McGrath is anticipating a sterner challenge now that the South Africans are back on their home turf.
‘We’ve had two good wins so far but this is a really tough test away in South Africa.
‘The Kings, we know there is going to be a backlash from last week, we watched them in Connacht and their second half was pretty impressive, and probably our first half last week [against Cardiff] let us down, so we’re looking to fix some things there,’ he added
The Blues are boosted by the return of Jordi Murphy, who makes his first competitive appearance in ten months after recovering from the ACL injury which he sustained in Ireland’s defeat of the All Blacks in Soldier Field, Chicago last November.
Joey Carbery takes up the full-back slot for his first competitive outing of the season, with Dave Kearney also returning from injury to make his first Pro14 start of the new campaign on the left wing.