No Handre Pollard, no Malcolm Marx, no Lukhanyo Am, no problem, says Victor Matfield.
It's a medical update that, a couple of months ago, would have given the Springboks legend some cause for concern.
But as the kick-off to what was always likely to be a World Cup Pool D decider creeps closer, Matfield is positive.
The confirmation that Eben Etzebeth has recovered from a shoulder injury will only add to his optimism.
"All of us, before the World Cup, if we said Malcolm Marx won't be playing, we’re not sure about Eben Etzebeth, Handre Pollard’s not playing, Lukhanyo Am is not there, everyone would have said, 'there’s no chance South Africa could win the game.'
"But we have shown the depth we have got in our squad and the guys that got their chances did really well," the 2007 World Cup winner tells RTÉ Sport.
"Manie Libbock brings something different to the team, and last week when everyone heard that Handre had come into the team they were saying, 'is that the right thing that Handre should go?’
"Yeah, it’s a difficult call but Handre is world-class, Manie has stepped up in the last year.
"The two guys at the heart of the physicality of the South African pack of forwards are Malcolm Marx and Eben Etzebeth.
"We’ve got Bongi [Mbonambi], who can replace Malcolm pretty much on the same level but you lose a little extra off the bench.
"Deon Fourie (above) will bring something totally different. There’s not a lot of guys better than him on the ground so when he comes on he can force some turnovers at breakdown time.
"Eben is the heart of the pack. When you think about the physicality he brings, in the mauls, in the middle of it, stopping mauls. When we maul, being the powerhouse. On attack and defence, he’s just immense.
"He’s got the physicality of some of the biggest forwards in the French pack has but he’s also got an engine and he never stops. If there’s high balls going up most of the time he’s the guys chasing those.
"He’s probably the best player in the world."
The last time we checked in with the former Bulls man, four years ago, he admitted that the Irish second row wasn't his area of expertise.
A young James Ryan had a Grand Slam under his belt but, on opposite sides of the draw in Japan, and before the big franchises had made the switch to the United Rugby Championship, there were no red lights flashing warnings about the Irish pack.
That has changed now. A series win in New Zealand, and an autumn win over the world champions will do that.
Matfield has been impressed with what he's seen on Ireland's 15-match winning run, which includes a Six Nations title and the tag of world number one.
"They bring a hell of a work-rate to the game and a nice skill-set," says the 46-year-old, a multiple Super Rugby and Currie Cup winner with the Bulls.
"That’s what makes the Irish team such a difficult team to play against, it’s the skill level of their forwards, their work-rate.
"They get into position very early on attack, they’ve all got the skills to make passes, the short passes, the back passes, the in-behind passes, everything and their decision-making is very good.
"If you look at this Irish team they maul very well, they stop mauls very well so it’s not going to be easy. Most of those players are very physical as well it’s going to be small margins and you have to fight for inches and then go from there.
"[The second row is] probably not the [raw] physicality but if we start with Franco Mostert at 5, it’s pretty much the same.
"If South Africa want to win the game, we need to dominate the set-piece, get scrum penalties, win the gain-line battle.
"We we need stop Ireland behind gain line, and slow down their ball so they can’t playing this quick phase-play that they like and at which they are the best in the world."
Then there's Jean Kleyn.
Capped five times for Ireland by Joe Schmidt in 2019 and a surprise inclusion in the World Cup squad, the Munster forward has, four years later, done it again.
This time, what he's got, all 19st and 6ft 6in, has been enough to sway Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber's thinking.
That he and RG Snyman, and ex-Reds centre Damian de Allende, will all play some part this evening adds another layer to the story.
Even after helping Munster to the title, with some notable results in South Africa, including the final victory, the 30-year-old's Springboks call-up still came as a shock.
"In the beginning I was surprised why we were doing it but I must say every game he has played he’s been outstanding," says Matfield of the former Stormers man, who will win his sixth South African cap if deployed tonight.
"Like the Irish locks, he brings a hell of a work-rate, he just keeps coming, he’s always there in the face of the opposition.
"I’ve been impressed with him, especially in the Test matches he’s played."
While Ireland are able to welcome Dan Sheehan back to the fold following his recovery from a foot injury, the loss of Marx and the call-up for Pollard sees 36-year-old Fourie, most often seen in the back row in recent years, covering 2 from the bench.
"I’m pretty happy with Deon Fourie, he’s one of those players who is very experienced, and I mean he’s probably played over 150 first-class games at hooker.
"When he was in South Africa as a hooker people always asked why he isn’t selected for the Springboks side.
"He’s pretty much like a Schalk Brits, a smaller hooker but he understands how to scrummage, he played in France for a long time. The extra that he can add in the last 20 minutes when everyone is a bit tired and he can come on and be very effective at the breakdown."
Matfield's name came up recently in the Irish media; it was the Polokwane native who strongly suggested that Erasmus would soon turn up on Irish shores again.
Six years after departing Munster, Matfield reckoned the ties that bind he and Nienaber, who joins Leinster post World Cup, would be too strong to break. An upcoming vacancy for performance director, with David Nucifora soon to depart, came up.
That link got short shrift when Erasmus spoke to reporters last Monday.
"No, I didn’t have any other information, just speaking to guys, knowing them," said Matfield.
"I mean I don’t know what Rassie’s contract is with South Africa but I know him and Jacques are really close.
"I’ve had people like that in my life that whenever there is opportunity to work with them that would always be my first option. Like that, they’ve been together for years and years and all their successes are together.
"If there was a possibility, I believe, it would always be Rassie’s first choice."
One never knows what Erasmus will do next.
Save for Mack Hansen, most Irish players and coaches deploy cheat sheet answers to all questions.
Rassie, on the other hand, is loath to dead-bat even the straightest of deliveries.
Traffic lights, 7:1 splits, doubling up on scrum-halves, bizarre social media activity, stinging criticism of officials - it's part of the Springboks show these days.
How does that go down back home?
"There is probably mixed feelings about his social media and how he handles the media but when it comes to coaching, all of South Africa, ex-players, non-players, all the supporters are just in awe of what him and Jacques have done with this team," explains Matfield.
"The depth they’ve created in the squad, the belief in what they are doing and we never know what it is: a 7:1 split on the bench or playing four scrum-halves in one game, somehow they’ve got the squad to believe in what they are doing and the guys to come out and perform, and they make it whatever they want.
"What they’ve created as coaches is a squad of guys believing 100% in what they are doing and they’ve been successful. Whatever anyone is saying about what’s he’s saying off the field it doesn’t really have an impact on the field.
"I think we are a better squad than in 2019. If you take the way we are playing. They started very conservative, just doing [whatever to] win games and now we’ve added a lot of things to this team and to how we play.
"In 2019, they went in and weren’t the favourites, especially after they lost against the All Blacks and they could just keep on doing what they were doing.
"Now there is a lot of expectation but, on the team themselves, there is always pressure. They want to win games, it doesn’t matter if you are the favourites or not, you want to win games and win the World Cup."
As for this evening, and the 9pm, local, kick-off in St Denis, Matfield chuckles after being asked for a prediction.
"You know the answer, I could never go against the Boks," he says.
"I’m not confident, but I’m definitely putting [an imaginary fiver] on the Boks.
"It's going to be tight and we’ve seen it, especially with the refs and the cards and everything, it can be a referee’s decision, somewhere in the game, going for you or against you, this is how close it going to be."
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