Welcome, everyone, to our live coverage of Ireland’s first test against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld.
It’s the back-to-back Six Nations champions against the back-to-back world champions, the first of a two-test series which has been simmering for months and will come to the boil in Pretoria this evening.
There is no love lost between the sides and so one of them will leave Loftus today with a reputational black eye. The 46 players who take to the field, meanwhile, will be bloodied and bruised after what’s virtually guaranteed to be a game of stomach-churning intensity.
As Siya Kolisi said the other day, the time for talking is over. The time for liveblogging is now. Or something like that, anyway.
Gavan Casey with you here and if you can’t make it to a TV, or if you don’t have Sky Sports, I’ll keep you up to speed with proceedings from kick-off at 4pm.
The Boks have appropriated ‘Zombie’ for their own purposes which, frankly, is a badass move whether we like it or not.
“It’s in your head, in your head.
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) July 6, 2024
“Rassie, Rassie, Rassie!”
Victor Matfield enjoying it! pic.twitter.com/vEc9P4XNEy
My colleague Murray Kinsella will have a match report and reaction from Loftus later this evening.
By Jesus, ’tis building.
As the South Africans say, it’s hectic!
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) July 6, 2024
U2’s Beautiful Day playing at Loftus. pic.twitter.com/97d1msaUyG
Ireland have beaten South Africa in their last three meetings, and the back-to-back world champs have yet to beat Ireland under Rassie Erasmus.
How are you feeling? Can Ireland make it four in a row against the Boks, or will the hosts get the final monkey off their back?
Poll Results:
Huge day for these men.
Jamie Osborne gets a first test start at fullback, where he’s played less than a handful of senior games, and Craig Casey gets the biggest test start of his career at scrum-half.
The Boks, meanwhile, have 20 players in their 23-man squad who were involved in their World Cup final success over New Zealand.
Your man in the middle will be Luke Pearce.
Ireland
- 15. Jamie Osborne
- 14. Calvin Nash
- 13. Robbie Henshaw
- 12. Bundee Aki
- 11. James Lowe
- 10. Jack Crowley
- 9. Craig Casey
- 1. Andrew Porter
- 2. Dan Sheehan
- 3. Tadhg Furlong
- 4. Joe McCarthy
- 5. Tadhg Beirne
- 6. Peter O’Mahony (captain)
- 7. Josh van der Flier
- 8. Caelan Doris
Replacements:
- 16. Rónan Kelleher
- 17. Cian Healy
- 18. Finlay Bealham
- 19. James Ryan
- 20. Ryan Baird
- 21. Conor Murray
- 22. Ciarán Frawley
- 23. Garry Ringrose
South Africa
- 15. Willie le Roux
- 14. Cheslin Kolbe
- 13. Jesse Kriel
- 12. Damian de Allende
- 11. Kurt-Lee Arendse
- 10. Handré Pollard
- 9. Faf de Klerk
- 1. Ox Nché
- 2. Bongi Mbonambi
- 3. Frans Malherbe
- 4. Eben Etzebeth
- 5. Franco Mostert
- 6. Siya Kolisi (captain)
- 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit
- 8. Kwagga Smith
Replacements:
- 16. Malcolm Marx
- 17. Gerhard Steenekamp
- 18. Vincent Koch
- 19. Salmaan Moerat
- 20. RG Snyman
- 21. Marco van Staden
- 22. Grant Williams
- 23. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Sweet Lord, it’s almost time.
About five minutes to kick-off. Anthems on the way.
Loftus is jointed and the South Africans have been playing the ‘unfinished business’ promo on the big screen. Zombie blasting out now.
One thing I haven’t mentioned is altitude — but Ireland have been training for 10 days at a similar height above sea level, and most of the Boks don’t live in Pretoria either, so it’s almost equally an issue (or non-issue) for both sides.
Will be interesting to see if Murray Kinsella is able to finish his report or if he’ll have to phone in the last 200 words. He’s been on the treadmill all week in preparation for this first test.
Here come the Impi warriors, who take to the field ahead of the world champs.
This is a massive day for the Boks not only because they don’t have much grá for Ireland, but because it’s their first proper homecoming as kings of the world. You’ll recall that, after their 2019 triumph, there was something of a pandemic which kiboshed their plans for an occasion similar to today.
Ireland’s Call just finished. National anthem of South Africa (that’s actually what it’s called) being belted out now.
I’ve made the schoolboy error of forgetting to go to the jacks before kick-off. Too late now. This could be an absolute rollercoaster.
1′ – SA 0-0 IRE: Here we go! South Africa in white, Ireland in green. Luke Pearce sounds his whistle and Jack Crowley gets us underway at Loftus Versfeld.
Buckle up, ladies and gents!
1′ – SA 0-0 IRE: Strong carry by Jamie Osborne with his first involvement but Joe McCarthy spills forward off next phase. Advantage has been and gone, and the Boks are into the Irish half.
McCarthy will be annoyed with that spillage. Pollard puts one into the sky and Osborne claims it with ease. Solid start by the debutant.
3′ – SA 7-0 IRE: Yeah, I regret to inform you that South Africa are on it.
It’s an incredible try, finished off by Kurt-Lee Arendse!
A sweeping backline move and the Boks get down the left edge. Arendse sends Osborne for chips with a step — you couldn’t honestly fault the Irish fullback given the speed at which Arendse was travelling.
Pollard chips over the conversion from near enough under the posts.
Electrifying, possibly Tony Brown-inspired rugby by the hosts!
7′ – SA 7-0 IRE: Good response by Ireland and they’re up to the South African 5′, knocking on the door, where they win a penalty.
They tap and go!
Stern South African defence again and, ugh, it’s knocked on as Peter O’Mahony pops a pass straight into McCarthy’s head. That’s hugely frustrating.
Up goes a chorus of ‘Zombie’, or ‘Rassie’, from the home crowd as we get our first bout of handbags of the evening. Pearce separates the sides without much hassle.
9′ – SA 7-0 IRE: Ireland put the Boks under savage pressure in the scrum but Cheslin Kolbe makes a massive clearance kick.
Poor error by Osborne who seems to lose track of the ball and touches it before it goes out of play. Boks’ lineout inside Irish territory.
11′ – SA 7-0 IRE: Ireland win a penalty in their own half as South Africa kill the ball after a Kwagga Smith knock-on.
Up to halfway through the boot of Crowley.
Lineout is good and Robbie Henshaw takes Ireland up to the home 10′. Ox Nché concedes the pen for not releasing and Jack Crowley points towards the posts from a central position about 40 metres from goal.
13′ – SA 7-3 IRE: Lovely strike by Crowley and Ireland are on the board.
15′ – SA 7-3 IRE: Siya Kolisi absolutely blows through Robbie Henshaw in contact near midfield. Henshaw takes Kolisi’s shoulder to the head and Luke Pearce stops play to have him checked. Henshaw, though, is grand, don’t even think he’ll need a HIA, and we’ll resume with a South African scrum on the Irish 10′.
Good, responsible refereeing by Pearce, in fairness.
(Sorry, just to clarify if necessary, Kolisi had the ball and Henshaw was the tackler — no foul play by either man).
17′ – SA 10-3 IRE: Joe McCarthy concedes a cheap penalty for not rolling away. Faf de Klerk made sure to earn it, but McCarthy should have made more of an effort to get the hell outta there.
A gimme three points for Pollard, and he gobbles them up.
20′ – SA 10-3 IRE: Osborne sound under the high ball so far and covering backfield capably.
We’ve seen very little of Ireland in attack yet — aside from the blown chance on the Boks’ 5′.
23′ – SA 10-3 IRE: Brilliant link-up by Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kolbe down the right edge. Jack Crowley makes the tackle on Kolbe and then counter-rucks to force a knock-on from De Klerk. Unreal work by the Irish out-half with his side stretched and scrambling.
It’s been as confrontational as you’d expect.
28′ – SA 13-3 IRE: Porter penalised — I think for playing the man from the ground? And Pollard chips over to extend the hosts’ lead to 10.
A couple of Irish lads, Josh van der Flier and Dan Sheehan, getting treatment.
South Africa have put Andy Farrell’s men under savage pressure, as promised.
31′ – SA 13-3 IRE: Unreal South African defence in their own half but Bongi Mbonambi is pinged at the breakdown.
It’s an easy three points for Crowley — or at least it should have been. He snatches at it and misses. That’s poor.
36′ – SA 13-8 IRE: JAMIE OSBORNE ON HIS DEUBT!
A vital score for Ireland as we approach half-time.
They eventually pick the South African lock as Crowley fires a skip pass to Dan Sheehan on the left wing. Sheehan reverses a pass to James Lowe who is bundled to within millimetres of touch — but he stays in for just long enough to offload inside to Osborne. That’s an insane piece of skill and strength by Lowe.
And Naas man Osborne dives over in the left-hand corner!
Crowley is off the mark again with a much more difficult kick. The gap is five.
39′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Porter concedes another penalty — this time for coming in at the side and just falling on top of De Klerk. Silly.
Pollard can stretch the hosts’ lead to two scores on the precipice of half-time — but he misses wide right from the tee. A let-off for Ireland.
41′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Caelan Doris — Ireland’s best player so far — makes his second poach and Craig Casey takes the half.
Listen, the Boks are on top, no doubt about it. But Ireland are playing tough and they’re bang in the game. Super test match.
Catch ye in 15.
41′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Handre Pollard gets us back underway at Loftus.
Dan Sheehan has been replaced by Rónan Kelleher at half-time — Sheehan succumbing to a knee injury he picked up in the first half.
43′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Bundee Aki concedes a pen at the breakdown and the Boks are up to the Irish 5′.
Ireland sack the lineout maul but South Africa are attacking within six or seven metres.
44′ – SA 13-8 IRE:Brilliant D by Ireland and Jamie Osborne hits De Klerk as he looks for a pass in open play. The ball flies into Irish hands and Crowley clears up towards halfway.
Great stand by the visitors!
45′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Kelleher the latest Irish player to concede a silly penalty as he kicks the ball out of De Klerk’s hands at the base of a ruck on the Irish 10′.
Pollard, though, is again off the mark from the tee. That’s two misses each from the out-halves. Another let-off for Ireland and so uncharacteristic by Pollard.
49′ – SA 13-8 IRE: South Africa go close to another try as Kwagga Smith grabs a loose ball from a botched Irish lineout.
They swing wide left to Arendse but the pass is slightly behind him and he knocks on into touch as he’s smashed by Osborne.
And breathe! But Ireland are hanging on at the moment.
50′ – SA 13-8 IRE: South African unleash a handful of behemoths, including RG Snyman, from their bench. Looks like they’ve changed their entire tight five.
Garry Ringrose is already on for Ireland, replacing Robbie Henshaw, and James Ryan has just come on for Joe McCarthy. Ah, Ryan Baird on too, for POM.
Sorry, a lot of changes happening at once. If I’ve missed any, I’ll let ye know.
51′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Frawley is on too, I think, for Osborne.
South Africa building phases inside the Irish 10′ as I type. Some huge hits by Ireland, by Jesus. James Ryan just nuked somebody. But still the Boks build.
HUGE turnover by Josh van der Flier! And Craig Casey blasts a superb kick back into the South African half. Excellent defence by Ireland again — but they need to find an entry point back into this game.
54′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Andrew Porter is coming off with blood pouring out of his hand. On comes Cian Healy.
Porter has conceded a couple of silly penalties in open play but he’s been superb in the scrum, big loss.
54′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Snyman knocks on in the lineout after Casey’s kick.
Okay, here’s a platform for Ireland: scrum just outside the South African 22′.
55′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Big carry by Doris but after a few more phases, he goes again and Malcolm Marx wins the penalty with a jackal about 10 yards from the Boks’ line.
Feck, that’s annoying but it’s brilliant work by Marx.
58′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Ah, gutting for Ireland! James Lowe has an incredible, 60-metre try ruled out because, just before Ireland turned the Boks over at the previous breakdown, Rónan Kelleher was adjudged by the TMO to have hooked the ball back while lying on the floor.
Correct call by the TMO, in fairness, but still gutting.
That’s a massive, massive swing — because Pollard now has the chance from the resulting penalty to stretch the Boks’ lead!
But he misses again… Wow. Well, at least there’s that.
63′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Double boost for Ireland: Craig Casey has just pinged an absolute peach of a 50-22, and Andrew Porter is back on the field.
Finlay Bealham about to make his way on too.
64′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Ireland go nowhere in attack and eventually lose the ball forward.
RG Snyman follows through on a tackle on his former clubmate, Casey, and Casey whacks his head off the hard Loftus surface. He looked out-cold there, to be honest. Receiving attention.
Doris wants a penalty for Snyman’s follow-through but it’s not really foul play, it’s just unfortunate. Hopefully Casey will be okay, but he’ll certainly play no further part in this game.
64′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Casey will leave the field on a stretcher — it almost seemed like a whiplash-type injury as his head bounced off the turf.
Fingers crossed all is okay.
64′ – SA 13-8 IRE: Casey sticks his hand up from the stretcher to indicate he’s okay.
We’ll restart after that long stoppage with a Bok scrum outside their own 22′ — and they win a penalty.
65′ – SA 20-8 IRE: Wowwww, it’s a freak try for the Boks, for Cheslin Kolbe, and that’s game!
From the previous scrum pen, James Lowe did his level best to keep Pollard’s penalty kick infield. He succeeded but when the ball broke loose, Kolbe pounced, fly-hacking into space and eventually dotting down.
The TMO checks several angle to see if Lowe was himself in touch before he flicked the ball back infield from across the whitewash. It’s genuinely fractional — but the officials can find no clear evidence to overturn the on-field decision of try.
A gut-punch for Ireland. And Pollard nails the conversion from the right edge.
74′ – SA 20-8 IRE: Ireland knocking on the door but being turned back by feral Bok defence.
Still, the pressure eventually tells with repeated South African infringements and Arendse is binned. South Africa will finish with 14.
Ireland opt to tap and go from seven out.
75′ – SA 20-8 IRE: Over goes Caelan Doris! But he’s held up!
The Ballina man stretches for the line but he just can’t find a blade of grass with the ball, finding only a South African leg.
Goal-line drop-out for South Africa.
[Sighs loudly]
76′ – SA 20-15 IRE: BACK IN IT! CONOR MURRAY!
Huge carry by Doris from the goal-line! Murray feeds Bealham who pops inside to Kelleher. The hooker breaks the line and feeds Murray who takes it under the sticks!
Crowley chips over and it’s a five-point game!
76′ – SA 20-15 IRE: Ahhhh, balls. Big error by James Lowe, who spills the ball through his fingers over the Irish goal-line and is forced to dot down under pressure from Kolbe.
Five-metre scrum for the Boks with just over three minutes to go. That’s galling.
78′ – SA 27-15 IRE: The Boks absolutely obliterate Ireland in the scrum — and Luke Pearce walks under the sticks. Penalty try.
That should be that!
79′ – SA 27-20 IRE: THIS IS MADNESS!!! I think it’s Ryan Baird who’s gone over in the left-hand corner!
The ball falls off the tee for Crowley, so he has to drop-kick the convo — and it’s wide. Still time, still a seven-point game!
Surely not?
That’s that — Ireland spill the ball after the South African restart and Luke Pearce brings a hell of a test match to a close.
I, eh, don’t know what to make of that, really?
South Africa were the better side but Ireland just would not die. Serious effort by both sides.
I’ll have to defer to Murray Kinsella for an overall assessment of this one, though!
I’m about to hop on a podcast with the man himself — thanks a million for joining me for these updates. Enjoy the rest of your evenings and catch you next week!
