An improbable 2-0 series win was there for the taking with 20 minutes remaining last Saturday in Johannesburg, but if offered 1-all going into a series decider this Saturday in Port Elizabeth before the tour commenced, Ireland would probably have taken that.
As the wounds, both physical and mental, have begun to gradually abate, so the Irish squad are coming to terms with the prize at stake, namely to become the first home union to ever win a series in South Africa. For Andrew Trimble, no less than the rest of the squad, such an opportunity will never come by again, and they have earned it by dint of their composed 14-man win the first test in Cape Town.
“I think it’s important that we get some perspective back and just remember that we still have a great opportunity to create a bit of history,” says Trimble. “We’re probably more aware now than we ever have been with how tough it’s going to be, how physical they are, how fast they are. Whenever they click, they’re very, very difficult to stop. We’ll have to look at a few things to figure out how to stop that.”
No-one encapsulated Ireland's performance more than Trimble, who was outstanding in the first half as Ireland targeted Lwazi Mvovo in the air. His left-handed flick to keep the ball in play and take Mvovo and Elton Jantjies, for Jared Payne to gather and just as importantly, his textbook clear-out ensured the quick ball from which Devin Toner scored the game's first try.
That said, it was a different story in the second-half, and especially in the last quarter, after the introduction of the rampaging debutant Ruan Cumbrinck on the Boks’ right wing meant JP Pietersen switched flanks to oppose Trimble.
In the days afterwards he admitted to feeling “pretty knackered alight”, adding: “It was a tough battle out there, very physical and very fast. The first-half especially, (there was) a lot of running down my side. Second-half, we were just taking a lot of heat and a lot of punishment. Physically, we were by a long way, second best during that second half. We didn’t win any collisions and a few boys are still feeling a few of those hits so we’re licking our wounds a little bit but we’re looking forward to getting back out there and putting a few of those wrongs right.”
Trimble gave an inkling as to what it was like when the Springbobs, helped by the impact of their bench, began to their big runners rumbling off quick ball. “They brought a few guys off the bench and they created a big impact. Once they get quick ball three of four times in a row, you’re fighting a losing battle really. It’s very tough to get a momentum changer at that stage.”
“So yeah, we’ve got to look at how we can combat that and how we can stand up and be a little bit more physical and a little bit more organised in getting off the line. It’s going to be tough, we’ve got a little bit more homework to do this week and a lot of work to do when we got into the pitch at the weekend.”
Nor is it simply a question of maintaining the aggressive line speed of the first test and first hour of the second before it slackened off in the face of the Boks’ onslaught. “There’s a lot of things we need to take on board really; just the collisions, we’ve got to start winning collision, getting our spacing right and getting into position earlier so we can get more organised. I wouldn’t put it down to one or two elements of our play. Even when one or two elements of our defence, I think there’s a lot of things we need to look at. We were thought a lesson in the last 20 minutes and it’s important that we take that on board and hopefully learn a few things for the weekend.”
It was put to Trimble that more impact from the Irish bench this Saturday would be helpful. “I think we’d be here all day if we talked through everything we should have learned or we could learn from the last 20 minutes of the game, but yeah definitely it’s important that we get an impact from the bench as well.”
“It’s important to put pressure on our ourselves to get to that level of performance that we were at for 55/60 minutes. Despite there being a lot of negatives looking back at the game thinking: ‘How did we lose that game? How did we let it slip away’, we put ourselves into a great position and it’s important that we do that again.”
“As much as there’s a lot we need to learn, there’s a lot of credit to take from putting ourselves in that position in the first place and whenever we do that again, we just need to be more clinical and continue to do what we were doing for the first 50 minutes.”
Interestingly, Trimble added: “Potentially, we maybe thought about winning the game rather than winning what was in front of us, that next phase, that next play or that next set-piece.”
That Ireland have kept the series alive until the decider, while the Boks have generated a feel good factor in advance of Allister Coetzee’s first homecoming as their coach, is expected to ensure the 46,000 capacity Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is sold out. The five-tier stadium was built for the 2010 World Cup.
“We haven’t had a chance to look at it yet but we’re pretty aware of how special that is,” said Trimble. “It’s been an unbelievable tour really. Newlands was special, Ellis Park was special. We’ve had an unbelievable experience obviously getting the win in Newlands. Getting to experience Ellis Park and just being aware of the atmosphere and I’m sure this weekend is going to be the same if not another step up.”
“It is a tough place to come and play rugby. The Springboks are an absolute handful at times and we’re proud of a couple of occasions especially our performance in the first Test performance and we’re proud of our performance for the first 60 minutes last weekend but we’ve a lot of to work on, we’re aware of these big occasions, these big intense moments in games and we need to start winning them if we’re gonna win Test matches and win series.”
