South Africa 24
Ireland 25
EXACTLY 50 YEARS ago to the day, Willie John McBride made the famous ’99′ call on the Lions tour of South Africa. Its spirit was invoked today.
While there were no flying fists here in Durban, there was blood spilled in a game of unrelenting physicality and absorbing drama.
And like that day in 1974 when McBride was the victor, the Irishmen who toiled on the turf of a feral, raucous Kings Park Stadium were the winners.
It was a sensational pair of drop goals from Ciarán Frawley which earned the victory for Ireland, the Leinster man nailing the winner with the last kick of the game to send Irish fans into raptures.
It was a stunning finish to a stunning game of rugby. Ireland have just their second-ever win on South African soil and share the series 1-1 with the back-to-back world champion Boks.
Ireland made a blistering start to stun the South Africans and deservedly lead 16-6 at half time, thanks in large part to a brilliant set-piece try finished by Conor Murray.
The wounded Boks had early second-half dominance and a yellow card for captain Caelan Doris, punished for a croc roll at the breakdown, made Ireland’s lives all the more difficult.
Rassie Erasmus’ men still had to empty themselves to overhaul Andy Farrell’s side, relying on the faultless boot of Handré Pollard who kicked all 24 of their points off the tee.
But those two late drop goals from Frawley – sent on with Caolin Blade in place of starting halfbacks Murray and Jack Crowley for the final quarter – ensured a remarkable win for Ireland. It was a deserved victory on a special night.
Bodies were strewn on the ground from the very opening exchanges of this enthralling contest, Rónan Kelleher landing a huge tackle on Kwagga Smith in the first contact of the game.
Springboks fullback Willie le Roux was forced off injured in just the second minute, immediately stretching their 6/2 bench, while the manically motivated Eben Etzebeth headed for the blood bin after giving away the opening points of the game for flying up offside. Crowley slotted the sixth-minute shot as ‘Rassie, Rassie, Rassie’ rang out.
Ireland were firing the most threatening shots in that opening quarter, Henshaw nearly gathering a smart Crowley cross-field kick after Joe McCarthy had bust through on a Tadhg Furlong tip-in pass.
Henshaw just couldn’t catch but Ireland scored off the goal-line drop-out with another brilliant play. Conor Murray was the try-scorer, as with last week, and there was a hidden runner on an inside pass but this time it came on third phase as Crowley slipped Osborne onto a half-break, he offloaded to Henshaw, and the Leinster centre passed inside for Murray to finish.
Ireland were in dreamland with a 10-0 lead just 15 minutes in and the Boks then lost second row Franco Mostert to injury in an unrelentingly physical battle.
As we have seen so often, the Boks turned to their scrum for much-needed momentum as they overpowered the Irish pack, allowing Handré Pollard to kick their opening three off the tee.
Ireland’s attack continued to work slickly as Ringrose offloaded and then another crosskick from Crowley found Nash on the right but Beirne knocked on in midfield.
An error from Lowe, kicking out on the full from a Murray pass back into the Irish 22, led to a sustained period of Boks pressure but they couldn’t turn it into a score as McCarthy made a brilliant maul turnover metres from the Irish line. The Boks did turn the ensuing scrum into a penalty for Pollard to slot another shot but conceding just three wasn’t a bad outcome for Ireland.
All the more so because the Boks immediately gave them three points back, Pieter-Steph du Toit obstructing Henshaw as he chased a kick, Crowley making it 13-6 with jeers ringing out again.
Pollard’s long restart was calmly left fall into the in-goal area by Murray and Ireland had a scrum back on halfway. They were under pressure but Doris got the ball out, then an excellent catch and pass from Osborne sent Lowe running up the left, where he grubbered ahead and tackled Pollard into his own in-goal.
Doris went close off the scrum, stopped only by a brilliant du Toit tackle, and though Garry Ringrose knocked on under the posts, the Boks had crept offside. Crowley’s third penalty was a tap-over and Ireland had a 10-point lead at the half-time break.
The Boks came bursting out of the blocks in the second half, replacement fullback Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu breaking out on the counter-attack and freeing wing Kurt-Lee Arendse to scorch all the way into Ireland’s 22. It was a promising position but scrum-half Faf de Klerk kicked the ball away meekly.
Two Irish lineout losses in quick succession added to the early second-half pressure, the second turnover resulting in Ireland giving up three points as Henshaw illegally jackaled at the breakdown. Pollard reduced the Irish lead to 16-9.
The Boks were well on top now and Ireland suffered a big blow in the 48th minute as captain Doris was sin-binned for a croc roll on sub Boks hooker Malcolm Marx as he looked for the breakdown steal. James Ryan was also involved but Doris was the man shown yellow and Pollard kicked another penalty between the uprights.
With 53 minutes played, Ireland’s lead had been reduced to a point as Pollard struck for the fifth time when Ryan was pinged for offside.
They had the lead for the first time in the game three minutes later, RG Snyman throwing a wonderful offload to Marx who burst forward and fed Marco van Staden. Though Crowley made an excellent cover tackle to stop the break, Porter then went off his feet looking for a turnover and Pollard made it 18-16 to the Boks.
It didn’t last long as Boks number eight Smith committed the some offence and with Doris returning, Crowley nervelessly nudged Ireland 19-18 ahead from 42 metres out.
Farrell sent on Blade and Frawley just after that Crowley kick but the wild see-sawing continued as Nash knocked on a high ball and McCarthy grabbed it in an offside position. 21-19 to the Boks.
A tricky bounce from Osborne close to the touchline saw him driven into touch by the hard-chasing replacement Boks scrum-half Grant William soon after, but Ireland came up with a McCarthy-led maul turnover on their own 22-metre line.
The scrum once again meant a penalty for the Boks, who had replaced their entire front row at this stage. From out on the left, Pollard was on target yet again and the Boks had a five-point lead with 15 minutes to go.
The 68th minute brought a big call for Ireland as they earned a clickable penalty at the breakdown. Doris and co. decided to go into the left corner and though it looked like they had botched their lineout, the Boks were free-kicked for closing the gap.
Ireland tried a tap play from five metres out but were held up, only for Frawley to hammer over a brilliant drop goal from 45 metres out to bring Ireland back within two at 24-22.
And Frawley would have the last say in sensational fashion as the hooter sounded. This was Ireland’s night.
South Africa scorers:
Penalties: Handré Pollard [8 from 8]
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Conor Murray
Conversions: Jack Crowley [1 from 1]
Penalties: Jack Crowley [4 from 4]
Drop goals: Ciarán Frawley [2]
SOUTH AFRICA: Willie le Roux (Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu ’2); Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Handré Pollard, Faf de Klerk (Grant Williams ’45); Ox Nché (Gerhard Steenekamp ’60), Bongi Mbonambi (Malcolm Marx ’46), Frans Malherbe (Vincent Koch ’46); Eben Etzebeth (blood – RG Snyman ’9 to ’17) (Salmaan Moerat ’72), Franco Mostert (RG Snyman ’17); Siya Kolisi (captain) (Marco van Staden ’50), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kwagga Smith.
IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Calvin Nash (Stuart McCloskey ’67), Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Jack Crowley (Ciarán Frawley ’59), Conor Murray (Caolin Blade ’59); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy ’60), Rónan Kelleher (Rob Herring ’67), Tadhg Furlong (Finlay Bealham ’44); Joe McCarthy, James Ryan (Peter O’Mahony ’60); Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier (Ryan Baird ’60), Caelan Doris (captain) (yellow card ’48).
Referee: Karl Dickson [RFU].
