Ireland 13 South Africa 24
A pulsating, compelling, incident-packed and at times farcical tussle, dominated most of all by referee Matthew Carley and his officials. But this was also a statement win by the double world champions, proving they are definitively the world’s best side.
It’s hard to compete without a scrum, especially against the imperious Springboks. The battering in this set-piece led to a penalty try, two of Ireland’s four yellow cards, and contributed hugely to the whopping 18-13 penalty count in the Boks’ favour.
But despite finishing with a patchwork backline, featuring Jamison Gibson-Park at centre and Jack Crowley at fullback, and facing the grim inevitability of defeat for much of the evening, Ireland were nothing if not brave.
The Boks have added layers of attacking brilliance with their strong launch plays and a touch of stardust from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, but the game was not without its controversies.
RM Block
While Feinberg-Mngomezulu avoided the bin for what looked like a cheap shot on Tommy O’Brien, Ireland incurred four yellow cards. What’s more, James Ryan’s yellow card, which also saw a Tadhg Beirne try chalked off, was upgraded to a 20-mintue red card by Dan Jones, somehow engaged as foul play review officer here despite wrongly coming to the same decision against Beirne in Ireland’s defeat to the All Blacks in Chicago earlier this month.
Ryan’s wrongdoing was the game’s seminal moment. With Beirne’s try to bring Ireland level denied, Andy Farrell’s side were to remain behind thereafter.
Before kick-off there was a palpably different atmosphere and a striking amount of South Africans around the Aviva Stadium. The game itself sizzled and crackled at points throughout, although it ultimately descended into farce.
Who remembers when teams used to feel each other at the start of matches? That’s long gone from the sport and its lexicon. Ireland started innovatively and ambitiously, twice exiting their half by working James Lowe into space for kicks on the left touchline.
But Jasper Wiese won a penalty in the jackal and Damian de Allende launched up the middle, offloading Wiese before Cheslin Kolbe came across his wing. Mack Hansen bought the dummy to leave Pieter-Steph du Toit to play Damian Willemse to finish by the corner flag.
In a breathless start, Hansen and Lowe soon linked deftly on the left for Tadhg Furlong to charge at the line after the latter’s initial tip-on to the winger. When Hansen cleverly reached O’Brien, who was tackled by Du Toit and caught by a no arms shoulder to the head from Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Carley was “not convinced” it was a no arms tackle and deemed the incident only warranted a penalty, perhaps influenced by South Africa’s bleatings after back-to-back red cards in their previous games against France and Italy.
After Sam Prendergast surprisingly hit the near post with a penalty, Ireland appeared to have drawn level after Lowe regathered the rebound and Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose and Caelan Doris carried hard before Beirne crashed through Du Toit’s tackle to finish.
But the try was ruled out after Ryan was found to have caught Malcom Marx on the head with his clear-out, the Ireland lock receiving a yellow which was later upgraded to red.
Confirmation of the upgrade came amid the first of two waves of penalties and yellow cards against Ireland, which did little to please the mood of a furious home crowd. The Boks’ unrelenting pressure eventually broke Ireland’s resistance when Cobus Reinach sniped through in inimitable fashion, Feinberg-Mngomezulu converting for a 12-0 lead, with Prendergast also binned for offside.
Captain Doris had said in the build-up to Saturday’s game that Ireland loved adversity, which was proved accurate when his side were down to 13. Dan Sheehan hit Ryan Baird at the tail of the lineout, where the Leinster flanker made a wonderful one-handed take. Josh van der Flier charged off the maul, Bundee Aki also putting in a hard carry before Sheehan plunged over from Gibson-Park’s skip pass.
Crowley had been loudly received after replacing O’Brien – removed from play for a HIA not to return – and went to fullback, but the Munster outhalf was soon binned after another review showed he had played the ball illegally at a ruck. The scrum penalties mounted and Andrew Porter picked up Ireland’s fourth card, another yellow, before the underpowered scrum buckled once more and Carley, now seemingly in his element, marched under the posts to end the half with a penalty try to a crescendo of booing.
Ireland resumed after a spell with just 12 men on the field. With both Prendergast and Crowley in the bin, Hansen kicked off. The home side were first on the board after the break despite the numerical disadvantage as Ruan Nortje was penalised for jumping across an Ireland lineout, giving the freshly returned Prendergast the opportunity to land a 45-metre penalty.
But a recurring theme was Ireland’s inability to deal with Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s hanging restarts. This immediately led to another siege and penalty advantage from which the pacy outhalf fended Gibson-Park and sliced through to score for a 24-10 lead, missing the conversion.
The Boks turned the screw, largely through their scrum. Paddy McCarthy was also shown yellow, giving Porter the dubious task of returning to play.
But Ireland’s defiance was remarkable. They lifted two prolonged sieges as relieving touch finders from Gibson-Park provoked thunderous and relieved roars. Forced to take chances from deep in their own half, the hosts were very much living on the edge. Crowley augmented one outstanding piece of cover to elude Kolbe and Moodie before denying the latter the touchdown short of the in-goal line.
Ireland finished by pounding the Boks’ line, missing a golden chance to make it a one-score game with three minutes remaining in a fittingly comic endgame. Boos had greeted RG Snyman’s 50th-minute arrival on is 50th Test – further confirmation that there were plenty of Munster fans in the house – but the decibel levels rose when he was binned, suggesting even Leinster fans were joining in.
That was rescinded after a review showed Snyman’s wrongdoing had come after an earlier Irish infringement, only for Grant Williams to then receive a yellow while Manie Libbok avoided the same fate for a one-handed knock-down. But the Boks had the last say, holding out until Kolbe kicked to touch to restart the chorus of booing.
In truth, while Carley was the game’s dominant personality, South Africa deservedly won having kept a determined Ireland at arm’s length.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 3 mins: Willemse try 0-5; 33: Reinach try, Feinberg-Mngomezulu con 0-12; 36: Sheehan try, Crowley con 7-12; 40: Penalty try 7-19; Half-time 7-19; 43: Prendergast pen 10-19; 47: Feinberg-Mngomezulu try 10-24; 55: Prendergast pen 13-24
IRELAND: M Hansen; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, B Aki, J Lowe; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J Ryan, T Beirne; R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris (capt).
Replacements: J Crowley for O’Brien (HIA, 31 mins), P McCarthy for Van der Flier (43-49), R Kelleher for Sheehan (55), McCarthy for Porter, F Bealham for Furlong, J Conan for Baird (all 60), Porter for Van der Flier (62-72), T Farrell for Hansen (64), C Casey for Ringrose (72).
Yellow cards: Prendergast (33 mins), Crowley (39), Porter (42), McCarthy (62),
20-minute red card: Ryan (19 mins).
SOUTH AFRICA: D Willemse; C Moodie, J Kriel, D de Allende, C Kolbe; S Feinberg-Mngomezulu, C Reinach; B Venter, M Marx, T du Toit; E Etzebeth, R Nortje; S Kolisi (capt), PS du Toit, J Wiese.
Replacements: G Steenekamp for Venter (41 mins), W Louw for du Toit (41-72), RG Snyman for Etzebeth (49), K Smith for Wiese (52), A Esterhuizen for Kolisi, M Libbok for Feinberg-Mngomezulu (both 58), J Grobbelaar for Marx (65-72), G William for Reinach (67).
Yellow card: Williams (78 mins).
Referee: M Carley (ENG).
