The annual chest-thumping between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere rugby teams began yesterday.
Each of the four teams from The Rugby Championship had big games: New Zealand were playing the match of the round against England; South Africa, recent victors over the All Blacks were playing Six Nations’ champions, Ireland; Australia were getting back on the horse after three losses in a row, with a new coach against Wales—and Argentina was attempting to build on their historic victory over the Aussies in the TRC, against Scotland.
Ireland 29 – South Africa 15
by “Brendan”
Ireland were hit by the late withdrawal of Chris Henry from the run on side; he was replaced by Rhys Ruddock with Tommy O’Donnell coming onto the bench. There had been rain throughout the day in Dublin but the conditions dried up and Pollard kicked off in perfect conditions for rugby.
First Half
Ireland dominated the opening proceedings with the majority of possession and territory. Fears about the Irish set piece were momentarily put aside as a couple of solid lineouts lead to a scrum just outside the Bokke 22 when Jack McGrath managed to eke a penalty out of Roman Poite which Johnny Sexton converted.
Jack McGrath tackles Duane Vermuellen
Shortly after Ireland managed to go six in front after South Africa were punished at the breakdown. Despite too much kicking away of the ball in the opposition territory Ireland looked very comfortable.
This wasn’t going to last as the Springboks started to ramp up their power game. Some powerful scrums, and good line out work, gave them field position deep in the Irish 22. However a lack of composure and some aggressive Irish defence saw them waste a number of good opportunities. Pollard turned down 3 points on a number of occasions but the South Africans couldn’t get a try to justify these decisions. Eventually they got on the board with a penalty after Paul O’Connell was offside at the ruck.
The first half finished with both sides still feeling each other out, but the Irish defence was on top with the Boks struggling to cope with the aggressive line speed.
Ireland 6 South Africa 3
Handre Pollard, Springbok flyhalf – tough day at the office
Second half
Ireland started the second half with a seemingly even more aggressive defence. A lovely kick by youngster Robbie Henshaw off turnover ball got Ireland deep into Bok territory and a superb chase by the Irish back three forced le Roux to concede a five-metre lineout. From that a superbly worked maul put Rhys Ruddock over in the corner. Jonny Sexton converted.
The Boks then began to empty their imposing bench with Schalk Burger and Adriaan Strauss coming on early in the half. The fresh legs told as the Boks were on top for a long time with only the aggressive Irish defense which forced turnovers on a number of occasions keeping them in the game. South African seemed frustrated and gave couple of penalties for high tackles. Eventually South Africa got their breakthrough after pounding the Irish for the majority of the half. Marcell Coetzee went over after a strong lineout maul.
Jean de Villiers nabbed by Ian Madigan
Ireland 13-10 at 57 minutes.
With a far superior bench it seemed the Springboks game to lose but the difference stayed at 3 for the next period as both teams couldn’t break down some good defense on both sides. After a 62 minute Sexton penalty the score was 16-10.
The game turned on a yellow card decision from Poite, when Adriaan Strauss took out Rob Kearney in the air in the 66th minute. Looking at the incident in isolation it was a penalty and nothing more however Poite decided to card Strauss as it was the third time we’d seen a penalty given against South Africa for foul play.
This seemed to rattle the Boks who never looked like coming back into the game. Sexton kicked to touch and a good period of play saw Ireland camped on the Boks line. They couldn’t get a try but forced South Africa into giving away a penalty which Sexton converted to make it a nine point game with ten minutes remaining.
Tommy Bowe celebrates his clinching try
Wille le Roux then made an uncharacteristic error, knocking on under no pressure in his own half. From the ensuing scrum a lovely worked move between Murray and Bowe saw Bowe score in the corner from a well worked chip through. Sexton converted to make the score 26-10 and with only seven minutes to go it was game over.
Ireland emptied their bench and replacement fly half Ian Madigan added another penalty when the Boks where offside at the ruck. South Africa added a bit of respectability to the score with JP Peterson crossing after some lovely work by le Roux, which was fitting as le Roux looked the most dangerous player on either side with ball in hand.
All in all it was a great win for Ireland, aggressive disciplined defence and a very well executed kicking game saw them home. It was a performance that will make the South Hemisphere nations sit up and take notice just a year out from the World Cup.
Final score : Ireland 29 South Africa 15
Johnny Sexton – man of the match
The teams
Ireland 1-Jack McGrath 2-Sean Cronin 3-Mike Ross 4-Devin Toner 5-Paul O’Connell 6- Peter O’Mahony 7-Rhys Ruddock 8-Jamie Heaslip 9-Conor Murray 10-Jonny Sexton 11-Simon Zebo 12- Robbie Henshaw 13-Jared Payne 14- Tommy Bowe 15-Rob Kearney
Reserves: 16-Richardt Strauss 17-Dave Kilcoyne 18-Rodney Ah You 19-Mike McCarthy 20-Tommy O’Donnell 21-Eoin Reddan 22-Ian Madigan 23-Felix Jones
South Africa 1-Tendai Mtawarira 2-Bismark du Plessis 3-Jannie du Plessis 4-Eben Etzebeth 5-Vitor Matfield 6-Marcel Coetzee 7-Teboho Mohoje 8-Duane Vermuelen 9-Francois Hougaard 10-Handre Pollard 11-Bryan Habana 12-Jean de Villiers 13-Jan Serfontein 14-Cornal Hendricks, 15-Willie le Roux
Reserves: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Trevor Nyakane 18-Coenie Oosthuizen 19-Bakkies Botha 20-Schalk Burger 21-Cobus Reinach 22-Pat Lambie 23-JP Pietersen.
The scoring
Scores: Sexton pen (8), Sexton pen (23), Pollard pen (37), Ruddock try (41), Sexton con (42), Coetzee try (57), Pollard con (58), Sexton pen (62), Sexton pen (70), Bowe try (72), Sexton con (73), Madigan pen (78), Petersen try (79)
See next page for England v New Zealand
