A team out of their depth

They came, they saw, they conquered; not once, not twice, but three times. Simple as that really. A typically imposing onslaught early on set the tone for South Africa's dirt-trackers' fourth unequal outing of their tour - at the end of which their try aggregate reads 29-2. The 10,000 crowd could only take it on the chin and admire.

Last night, as before, it was no contest really. The Springboks overwhelmed an adventurous but lightweight Irish second string; their power in contact, whether with the ball or tackling, pace through the gap, ability to stay on their feet and offload, and their support play enabling them to win by eight tries to one.

As a yardstick to judge the relevant strength in depth of the two countries it was a startling verdict and so, as an exercise in examining the possible alternatives for the Irish senior side it was a grim spectacle.

Not one player made a compelling argument for promotion. At least in the cases of, say, Ciaran Scally and Girvan Dempsey, this was an investment in the future as they have time on their sides.

Anthony Foley gave it a go and made an impact in the close-in stuff, though no less than the limited impact of the Allied Dunbar wingers, this also showed the gulf in class from what the Shannon quartet are used to.

Scally did well enough by this time concentrating on the basics, and to his and his fellow backs' credit, David Humphreys tried to unveil his box of tricks, albeit with a mixed performance.

However, they didn't have the physical impact or dynamism with the ball in hand to prevent most of the moves becoming turnovers, more often than not without even breaching the gain line. The back-row did not having sufficient pace to give the moves added impact and too often the Irish ball-carrier became isolated and had to squirt the ball back, or if not the South Africans were at least able to delay the recycle. In any case, a loose open game was grist to the Boks' mill, with the gifted Gaffie du Toit Ireland's chief tormentor.

They did have a pretty good launching pad in their line-outs, testimony to the accurate throwing of Ross Nesdale which enabled Jeremy Davidson to supply quick, off-the-top ball. But they were a bit too lightweight in contact and the support runners weren't at the point of breakdown as quickly as their opponents.

In any event, the visitors were able to tweak, twist and generally toy with the Irish scrum almost at will, where John Hayes's technique was again exposed at this level. Defensively they never exerted the pressure defence which the senior side was able to do, although admittedly this was a scratch side.

In the first half, the Irish kept their part of the scoreboard ticking over through the boot of Niall Woods, thanks in large part to the Springboks' abrasiveness.

Woods's first of four penalties brought a swift response through a typically potent line-out attack from the Springboks; Chad Alcock making the inroads as David Corkery was taken out off the ball. Off second phase, Robbie Fleck went around Halvey to score. Corkery's live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword cameo would last only 30 minutes.

Within three minutes du Toit counter-attacked off Dempsey's poor kick, Braam van Straaten burst through the gain line, and the supporting Philip Smit put Alcock over with a reverse pass.

The response to Woods's second penalty came within a minute. After another Irish turnover, du Toit hit the line with clear intent, chipping over the thin white line of defence and winning the touchdown with a mile to spare.

South Africa responded within three minutes of Woods's fourth penalty shortly after the break. A pick and go drive, and then clinically quick and well-timed release of the ball put du Toit into space. Though Dempsey brought him down, Franco Smith was in support to score.

Lightning-quick scooped scrum ball then enabled du Toit to hit the blind side at pace and steam inside Humphreys. When Woods was subsequently too lax in dealing with du Toit's chip ahead, van Straaten pounced to score and the London Irish winger was promptly subbed.

Symbolically, the inflated pint of Guinness subsided after the best part of 10 minutes' fruitless huffing and puffing, following which Fleck breached the white line and Corne Krige provided the link for Lourens Venter to score.

However, the balloon was quickly inflated and stood proudly again as a well executed reverse pass by Humphreys was finished off by Darragh O'Mahony.

Inevitably though, the Boks had the final say, as Werner Swanepoel tapped and went himself to score under the posts. Overall, it put Saturday's relatively creditable effort further into perspective.

Scoring Sequence: 5 mins: Woods pen, 3-0; 14: Fleck try, van Straaten con, 3-7; 17: Alcock try, 3-12; 25: Woods pen, 6-12; 26: du Toit try, van Straaten con, 6-19; 34: Woods pen, 9-19; 44: Woods pen, 12-19; 47: Smith try, van Straaten con, 12-26; 51: du Toit try, 12-31; 57: van Straaten try, 12-36; 72: L Venter try, van Straaten con, 12-43; 74: O'Mahony try, Mason con, 19-43; 81: Swanepoel try, van Straaten con, 19-50.

Ireland A: G Dempsey (Terenure Colege); N Woods (London Irish), R Henderson (Wasps), P Duignan (Galwegians), D O'Mahony (Bedford); D Humphreys (Dungannon), C Scally (Blackrock); R Corrigan (Lansdowne), R Nesdale (Newcastle), J Hayes (Shannon), M Galwey (capt), J Davidson (Castres), D Corkery (Cork Constitution), A Foley (Shannon), E Halvey (Shannon). Replacements: D Wallace (Garryowen) for Corkery (31 mins), E Byrne (St Mary's College) for Hayes (58 mins), S Mason (Ballymena) for Woods (58 mins), A Clarke (Dungannon) for Nesdale (79 mins), J Duffy (Galwegians) for Davidson (80 mins).

South Africa(West); D Kayser (Eastern Province), R Fleck (Western Province), F Smith (Blue Bulls), R Markram (Griqualand West); B van Straaten (Gauteng Falcons), C Alcock (Eastern Province); T van der Linde (Western Province), O Nkumane (Golden Lions), B Moyle (Gauteng Falcons), A Venter (Free State Cheetahs), J Trystman (Western Province), C Krige (Western Province), A Vos (Golden Lions), capt, P Smit (Griqualand West). Replacements: O le Roux (Natal Sharks) for Nkumane (half-time), S Boome (Western Province) for Venter (48 mins), B Paulse (Western Province) for Smith (58 mins), L Venter (Griqualand West) for Markram (58 mins), W Swanepoel (Free State) for Alcock (68 mins).

Referee: R Dickson (Scotland).

South Africa's ruling African National Congress party has stoked the controversy over the racial make-up of the country's rugby and cricket national teams by labelling them "lily-white".

The intervention came after the Sports Minister Steve Tshwete was criticised by opposition parties for saying that he was "fed up" that the two sides were almost exclusively white.

"Nobody can dispute that both rugby and cricket national teams remain lily-white," the ANC said in a statement.