How’s everyone?
Welcome to live coverage of Emerging Ireland’s final game on their tour of South Africa.
Simon Easterby’s up-and-comers take on the Toyota Cheetahs in the latter’s home city of Bloemfontein, with kick-off at 6pm.
It’s Gavan Casey with you here, and I’ll bring you live updates from the game if you can’t watch it.
Just to let you know, it’s available to stream for free, here — you’ll just need to register first!
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon.
Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half.
Emerging Ireland
The Emerging Ireland line up for Wednesday's final Tour match against the Cheetahs! 🟢#TeamOfUs
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) October 8, 2024
Cheetahs
1′ – CHE 0-0 IRE: Referee Stephen Geldenhuys sounds his whistle and Ethan Wentzel of the Cheetahs gets the action underway in Bloemfontein.
I’ll ping you on notifications of any tries or red cards, as well as a half-time score and full-time score. You also have the option to turn off those notifications by toggling the button near the top of the liveblog.
1′ – CHE 0-0 IRE: Lovely crossfield kick by Sam Prendergast finds Zac Ward near halfway. He chips and chases the ball into touch in the Cheetahs’ 22′.
Irish coaches scream for a 50-22 — it was borderline — but Cheetahs get the put in and clear through Wentzel.
Bright start for the tourists.
5′ – CHE 0-0 IRE: Cheetahs blast their way into the Irish 22′ with a series of pick-and-gos up the middle, targeting Ireland’s pillar defence.
They go wide left and Ben O’Connor is pinged for going off his feet after a warning from the referee.
Cheetahs go to touch on the Irish 5′. First chance for the hosts.
6′ – TRY FOR THE CHEETAHS! Cheetahs 5-0 Emerging Ireland.
The South Africans win the lineout on the Irish 5′, roll the maul close, and eventually tighthead Robert Hunt burrows over in the left-hand corner.
Wentzel is off the mark with the extras, so the home lead stays at five.
10′ – CHE 5-0 IRE: Nice interchange between Hugh Gavin and Ben O’Connor, and the Munster fullback dinks a beautiful kick into the backfield and, eventually, into touch on the Cheetahs’ 5′.
Cheetahs win the lineout and Wentzel clears to outside his own 22′.
Cheetahs then steal the Irish lineout and there’s a mistake by O’Connor: a Cheetahs kick into the Irish 22′ was touched en route, and O’Connor clears straight to touch but the ball was technically taken back in with the deflection.
13′ – CHE 5-0 IRE: Cheetahs have a wonderful score ruled out for a neck roll by loosehead Schalk Ferreira at an earlier breakdown.
Inside centre Aranos Coetzee, who wasn’t listed on the starting XV that I saw but is absolutely starting, popped a delicious offload to number eight Friedle Olivier as the hosts carved Ireland open again.
Worrying signs for Simon Easterby’s side, who need to settle back into this one. Getting overpowered a bit in the collision so far.
17′ – CHE 5-0 IRE: Sam Prendergast booms a penalty from halfway up towards the Cheetahs’ 5′, into touch.
Big chance for Ireland!
17′ - TRYYY FOR IRELAND! EVAN O’CONNELL! Cheetahs 5-7 Emerging Ireland.
Lovely half-dummy by skipper Culhane to create a yard of space and carry to within two metres of the Cheetahs’ line.
Cormac Foley picks at the base of the ruck, takes a half-step inside and delivers a lovely, delayed pass to O’Connell, who dots down from point-blank range.
Prendergast converts from left of centre. Ireland lead, out of nowhere!
22′ – CHE 5-7 IRE: Close one!
Lovely little no-look pass off first phase from Jack Aungier, who puts Hugh Gavin through a gap in midfield.
Gavin takes it into the 22′ in space and passes left to the supporting Cormac Foley.
The scrum-half sprints for the line but Cheetahs 10 Wentzel makes an unreal stop and, after a release, jackals Foley inches short of the try-line. Foley fights to touch it down but is adjudged to have made a double movement as he propelled himself forward with his legs.
24′ - TRYYY FOR THE CHEETAHS! Lovely score. Cheetahs 12-7 Emerging Ireland.
They work it up to the Irish 22′ where previous try-scorer Friedle Olivier takes contact and pops a nice offload outside to fullback Michael Annies.
Annies touches down and Wentzel converts from a similar position to Prendergast on the opposite side of the pitch.
29′ – CHE 12-7 IRE: Cheetahs have been slightly the better side and are worth their five-point advantage.
Some nice moments by Ireland, some not so nice. They look dangerous on the rare occasions that they string things together, but some sloppy errors too as new combinations face the obvious challenges.
30′ – TRRRYYYY FOR THE HOSTS! THEIR THIRD! Cheetahs 19-7 Emerging Ireland.
Jack Aungier is pinged on a Cheetahs scrum just inside the Irish 22′ for ‘cranking’. Don’t… (Basically, he used his bind to pull down Schalk Ferreira opposite him).
Wentzel goes to the line and the Cheetahs maul Ireland over, with hooker Corne Fourie dotting down.
Wenztel, though, misses a fairly easy conversion to limit the damage slightly.
36′ – CHE 17-7 IRE: Ireland win a penalty in the Cheetahs’ 22′ and Prendergast punts them to the five.
37′ - TRRYYYYYY FOR THE IRISH! What a pass by Ben O’Connor! Cheetahs 17-12 Emerging Ireland.
From the lineout maul on the left-hand side, Ireland set up a forward pod and suck in the South African defenders but immediately go wide.
Prendergast fires a pass to fullback O’Connor, who unleashes an even better one 20 metres out to Andrew Osborne for the walk-in score on the right wing. Lovely score.
Prendergast is off-target with the touchline conversion.
40′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Ireland win three penalties on the stroke of half-time.
The second sees Prendergast unleash another monster kick to touch deep inside the home 22′.
The third sees them go back to touch after a strong carry by Sean Edogbo sees the Cheetahs interfere on the ground.
So, with the clock red, Ireland have another chance on the Cheetahs 5′ — and they concede a free-kick for leaving the lineout too early!
Good half of ball in Bloemfontein, end to end and fun to watch as you’d expect.
Cheetahs marginally the better side but Emerging Ireland dangerous with every possession.
Cheetahs on top in the scrum but neither side especially dominant in any other area otherwise — just a bit of a ‘you go, we go’ kind of game.
Lovely stuff. Catch you in 15!
41′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Back underway and Ireland are on the attack just outside the Cheetahs 10′.
43′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Fullback O’Connor finds space in front of him and kicks and chases towards the Cheetahs line.
The hosts clear to their own 22′ and there’s a break in play as tighthead Robert Hunt is treated for an injury, nothing serious-looking.
43′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Ireland make a hames of the lineout and the Cheetahs look to transition.
They go wide right and O’Connor nearly intercepts on the Cheetahs’ 22′! Good read by the fullback but he can’t quite gather the ball, which bobbles forwards from his grasp.
Robert Hunt gets the better of Alex Usanov at scrum time and Cheetahs win a pen — but Ethan Wentzel misses touch.
Scrappy start to the second half by both sides.
46′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Ireland win an offside penalty near halfway and Prendergast blasts them up to the Cheetahs’ 5′ again — like Jack Crowley, he’s so aggressive with those.
Ireland’s maul is sacked legally, however, and Cormac Foley knocks on as the whole thing folds on top of him.
Sloppy by Ireland, good defence by the Cheetahs though. Robert Hunt is having a fine game, he was like a wrecking ball in that maul.
49′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Cheetahs pinged for another neck-roll on their own 10′.
Prendergast boots Ireland close again.
50′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: Ireland lose it forward in the maul again.
Only 10 gone in this second half but this is poor stuff, particularly from Ireland.
53′ – CHE 17-12 IRE: A couple of Ireland attacks have taken them into the Cheetahs 22′ but they’ve been blown off their own ball both times.
Cheetahs dominating those exchanges, now, while Ireland are still applying pressure with lengthy, offload-heavy attacks.
55′ – TRRRYYYYYY FOR IRELAND! It’s the replacement Alex Soroka!
Good carry by Usanov who pops a lovely offload from the ground to the charging Hugh Gavin. The Connacht centre takes it into the Cheetahs’ 22 and pops backwards to nobody in particular, but sub scrum-half Matthew Devine scoops up the loose ball and shovels it up to Prendergast.
It hits the out-half in the hand but travels backwards into the grateful arms of Soroka, who strolls it under the sticks.
It wasn’t perfect, but it’ll do. And Prendergast chips over the extras for the Irish lead.
61′ – CHE 17-19 IRE: Ireland playing multi-phase, multi-layered attack and stringing together some eye-catching stuff, now.
Cheetahs are starting to look wrecked, to be honest!
Ireland win a penalty just inside their own half and Prendergast boots them to within seven.
Lineout is overthrown but Ireland regather. Attacking now in the Cheetahs’ 22′.
62′ – CHE 17-19 IRE: Cheetahs eventually escape and almost go the length of the field!
Ireland regather the ball deep inside their own 22′ and then there’s a massive hit on Charlie Tector by lock Carl Wegner — looked like a shoulder straight to the head but Tector dipped into it slightly at the last second.
Tector is laid out and the ref is going to check this.
Yep, Wegner receives a yellow.
Before he leaves the field, he goes straight over and shakes Tector’s hand, making sure he’s okay. Nice touch. Tector does seem relatively okay, by the way, but he’ll be checked.
67′- TRRYYYY FOR THE CHEETAHS! From nothing! Cheetahs 24-19 Emerging Ireland.
I think it was Andell Loubser who found space down the right edge and suddenly, the 14-man Cheetahs were away!
Ireland stop their hosts inside the 22′ but the Cheetahs attack the openside. There’s a misread by hooker Stephen Smyth in midfield and Michael Annies curves his run through a massive hole in the Irish defence, under the sticks.
Conversion is good — and the Cheetahs lead by five!
71′ - TRRRYYYYYYY FOR IRELAND! MATTHEW DEVINE! Cheetahs 24-26 Emerging Ireland.
After a nice break by Jack Murphy, on only moments earlier for Sam Prendergast, Matthew Devine picks and walks straight through the Cheetahs defence on the snipe.
Under the posts goes the Connacht scrum-half, and Murphy adds the extras for the Irish lead!
75′ – CHE 24-26 IRE: Cheetahs’ discipline starting to slip in the last 10 minutes.
Sean Edogbo has had a fine second half with three powerful carries. He takes Ireland into the Cheetahs 22′ and Devine box-chips in behind. Into touch, Cheetahs’ put-in deep inside their own territory.
They win it and Wentzel clears to halfway, but infield. Hugh Gavin, also impressive, batters into them again.
77′ - TRRYYYYYY! GAME OVER!
Unfortunately, I didn’t see who actually finished it — my apologies. Will get that to you before full-time if I can.
But Alex Soroka made a booming carry up to the Cheetahs’ 5′. Ireland had a pen advantage and when they lost it forward, they tapped and went from 5′ with the pen.
Straight over the line for the try went Player X!
And Murphy converts for a nine-point cushion.
The tourists come away with a nine-point victory in a seesaw game.
Cheers for joining us for live updates. Murray Kinsella will have a full report and follow-up on the game, so keep and eye on The 42 this evening and beyond.
I’ll catch you next time. Take it easy.
