The wheels came off the Irish tour to South Africa in Hoffe Park yesterday, leaving the Warren Gatland bandwagon looking at least temporarily derailed. Getting the squad back on track for the first Test in Bloemfontein this Saturday will be a considerable task and, while it may well make them dig deeper, Ireland hit their lowest ebb for some time in Kimberley.

At times during a particularly woeful first-half display, there were shades of those midweek maulings that had become a trademark of previous Irish tours in the 90s to the southern hemisphere. It never quite got to that, but it was still unnerving to see Ireland look so disorganised, squander possession at times pitifully and be more porous defensively than they've ever been in the Gatland era.

All the pre-match fears, and a few more, came home to roost. The Irish had looked untypically flat during a low-key practice session at the match venue the day before, and even in the build-up to the game.

Acclimatising to the air at altitude hits players earlier rather than later in a game. The flaws, such as crass turnovers and missed first-up tackles, may have been as much mental as physical. In what were shades of some of the bad old days, Ireland were left gasping for breath whenever their opponents upped the pace in constructing a 31-3 lead moving into first-half injury time.

By then, the afternoon had long since become a damage limitation exercise, and it's a telling commentary on that first half that one almost felt relief for a final scoreline of 52-13.

Griqualand West were good, at times very good. They seemed to have huge, fast men in almost every position and with an adaptability to play anywhere - none more so than Lourens Venter. Outside centre at the outset, then later out-half, apparently his best work this season has been on the wing and at full-back.

Elusive, very quick and strong, he scored two of their seven tries and set up two more on a silver salver. Comparing Venter to Carel du Plessis, the great South African centre of the 80s, Griqualand coach Andre Markgraaff said: "Once in 20 years you see a player like this. You won't see him every day. He's a special player."

Hooker Basil de Coning landed six from seven kicks, including a right-handed touchline conversion. Griqualand could afford to replace half their big, mobile pack for the final quarter and their backs could seemingly score from anywhere, six of them getting on the scoresheet.

Hence you could see why they held the All Blacks three years ago and are currently the form province in South Africa. Viewed in that light, there was no shame in losing to them.

Yet the feeling persisted that Griqualand were in cruise control for much of the game and that however good they were, Ireland did themselves few favours. A mounting list of nagging injuries probably played a part in some sub-standard displays, while this was a huge leap from past experience and/or recent idleness for one or two more on a day which exposed Ireland's limited reserves of talent.

Meantime, the search goes on for David Wallace's best position after this second relatively anonymous outing, while the more his brother Richard tries to break out of a poor spell of form the worse it gets. Justin Bishop's tackling and productive use of the ball looks like making him a certainty for the test side.

Henderson again took the ball on well but Killian Keane hasn't made his presence felt yet. You felt for Derek Hegarty, who deserved a try for maximising typically sluggish ruck ball with an inventive blind side break chip and kick ahead.

Often taking man and ball together, yesterday also enhanced his qualifications in the excavation business. Mr Henning simply allowed Griqualand to `fringe' all day long, thereby committing all eight Irish forwards to the ruck and leaving Hegarty with slow ball and few options.

David Humphreys was clearly hampered by a groin strain sustained with a first missed penalty but it may not have been one of his days anyway. After one charged kick and a drop out on the full, he saw his pack overstep his restart and then waved opposite man Robert Markram through for the first try - in stark contrast to last Saturday's effort.

Venter and full-back Andre Vermeulen tagged on further soft tries before Venter hit a popped pass at blistering pace on his 22 to tee up the supporting Edrich Lubbe. Each followed profligate errors or turnovers though; David Wallace dropping Brennan's low pass in the tackle, Richie Wallace tackling from 50 yards in front of the kicker and then Humphreys overcooking an ill-conceived upand-under which only Henderson on the blind side reacted to.

A 13-man line-out, with Foley at the sharp end from Gabriel Fulcher's take, provided brief interval respite. After a flurry of injuries, substitutes and some aggro, mostly resulting in wounded Irishmen, Venter gave the cue for Griqualand to cut loose again entering the final quarter when breaking Peter Clohessy's tackle to send Herman Bosman over.

Substitute Wayne October added some blistering pace and two conversions to tries by himself and Venter (breaking through Keane and Mark McCall). Sandwiched in between, Conor O'Shea broke a tackle to score a consolation try.

Scoring Sequence: 3 mins: de Coning penalty 3-0; 11: Humphreys penalty 3-3; 16: Markram try, de Coning conversion 10-3; 18: Venter try, de Coning conversion 17-3; 31: A Vermeulen try, de Coning conversion 24-3; 35: Lubbe try, de Coning conversion 31-3; 40: Foley try 31-8; 57: Bosman try, de Coning conversion 38-8; 69: October try and conversion 45-8; 78: O'Shea try 45-13; 83: Venter try, October conversion 52-13.

Griqualand West: A Vermeulen; S Sholtz, L Venter, E Lubbe, H Bosman; R Markram, H Husselman; D Venter, B de Coning, D Theron, A van den Berg, P Smit, P Krause, F Engelbrecht (capt), G Watts. Replacements: T de Jager for Markram (44 mins), V Venter, D Vermeulen, A Skinner and J Brand for Smit, de Coning, D Venter and Engelbrecht (all 60 mins), D von Hoesslin for Husselman (65 mins).

IRELAND: C Clarke; R Wallace, K Keane, R Henderson, J Bishop; D Humphreys, D Hegarty; D Clohessy, B Jackman, P Clohessy, M Galwey, G Fulcher, T Brennan, A Foley (capt), D Wallace. Replacements: M McCall for Humphreys, V Costello for Foley (both 44 mins), K Wood for Jackman (47 mins), D O'Cuinneagain for Fulcher (49 mins), J Hayes for Brennan (56 mins).

Referee: T Henning (South Africa).

Left: Peter Clohessy, Gabriel Fulcher and Mick Galwey give Des Clohessy plenty of options in this forward exchange against Griqualand West yesterday. Top right: Derek Hegarty gets his kick in before biting the South African dust, while Gabriel Fulcher nurses a head injury that forced his retirement after 49 minutes. - (Photograph: Billy Stickland/INPHO).