Ireland 21 Sth Africa 23:IRELAND DON'T tend to hit the ground running at the start of the international season, and this had echoes of the rusty comeback a year ago against Australia.
Only the woodwork denied Ireland what would have been another gutsy draw, albeit an utterly flattering one. For much of the first hour or so, they looked more like a scratch side than a relatively experienced outfit drawn from three provinces with loads of settled combinations.
It didn’t help that Ireland also seemed intent on playing like the Barbarians, for this was no sun-kissed end-of-season evening. A torrential first-half downpour added to the sodden conditions, making the ball akin to a bar of soap. Even the masterful Victor Matfield dropped one Irish restart. Ye Gods!
The tone was set by Brian O’Driscoll’s wayward pass to Luke Fitzgerald inside the Irish 10- metre line and when Jonathan Sexton attempted a risky tap 22 for Tony Buckley to dive on. This was in the first three minutes!
It continued with Cian Healy fumbling a tap penalty and David Wallace being scragged into touch when running back a Morne Steyn restart, not to mention Eoin Reddan passing blind to Fitzgerald when retreating from Donncha O’Callaghan’s line-out tap.
Each mistake put Ireland on the back foot on the scoreboard and the pitch; either leading to a South African score, most obviously off the latter when Juan Smith picked off a 60-metre intercept try, or waves of Springboks recycling and extra tackling practice for Ireland.
Ireland’s organisation and willingness in defence kept them in the game, the tight five putting in mountains of tackles around the pitch and the backrowers likewise further out – with Stephen Ferris’ immense physicality reminding the Lions what they missed when he was ruled out of the Test series.
That said, however, the Boks, given licence by Nigel Owens, had the quicker defensive line speed and also adapted better to the conditions, at times they seemed to be carrying in twos or threes, not to mention having much the more potent ball.
South Africa also kicked to chase and contest the ball in the air far better. Unforgivably, twice in the second half Gio Aplon (the smallest player on the pitch but also one of the best) and Bjorn Basson regathered Boks kick aheads unchallenged.
Ireland remain, essentially, a set-piece side. Their best work was usually off set-piece strike moves, such as when Luke Fitzgerald nearly pierced the South African white line off Brian O’Driscoll’s disguised pass from quick off the top ball by Jamie Heaslip.
By contrast, they struggled to build through the phases as well as South Africa did, or as they had done on the summer tour, but the key factor was how little quality set-piece ball they had to work off.
At any level you’d struggle to win without the basics, never mind against a Southern Hemisphere heavyweight.
As one feared might happen, when you take Paul O’Connell out of the Irish mix and add Bakkies Botha to the Boks’, not to mention the equally charming Bismarck du Plessis, Ireland’s line-out gradually disintegrated around the second and third quarters to the point where tap penalties were the only credible option in the last quarter.
For all Declan Kidney’s protestations to the contrary, as one also feared with the Du Plessis brothers back in harness with Tendai “The Beast” Mtawarira, the Irish scrum also buckled, particularly on the Tony Buckley side.
On the 20-minute mark, the Irish tightside shuddered backwards and though Jamie Heaslip checked the defence to feed Reddan, by the time the ball reached Brian O’Driscoll, he had no option but to kick.
Buckley’s binding conceded the last three points of the half, and in point of fact his departure with “cramp” led to Tom Court, on his 30th birthday, actually tightening the squeeze and the Ireland scrum to the extent that it enabled Sexton to land a sweetly-struck third penalty.
However, when a six-phase Boks attack culminated in Zane Kirchner working a switch with Aplon to completely wrong-foot both Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney, Ireland’s goose looked cooked.
Whereupon both benches made a significant impact, most of all Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara.
Winning his 92nd cap, but his first in over a year, Stringer’s rapid fire service quickened the tempo. Winning his 100th, O’Gara too injected pace with his flat alignment, quick hands and tap penalties, and variation – such as a deft reprise of the Grand Slam try in Cardiff with Tommy Bowe and, after Heaslip’s break-out, the skip pass from which Rob Kearney scored.
However, à la the first Test against the Lions two summers ago, you also have to wonder how much the turnaround was also due to Pieter de Villiers weakening the Boks’ hand, replacements either lacking experience or game time.
In particular, the decision to withdraw Morne Steyn – having extended his world record for successive goal-kicks in Tests to 41 before missing at the start of the second half – looked premature. Steyn had committed three or four basic errors either side of the break but, if nothing else, he would not have missed the proverbial sitter which the 20-year-old debutant Patrick Lambie pushed wide soon after joining the fray.
Ultimately, the Boks were indebted to the magnificent Matfield preventing Kearney from narrowing the angle for the last conversion with his covering tackle.
With Ireland unwilling or unable to run it from deep, the 14-man Boks easily saw out the end game. It should never have come to that, though then again the Boks hadn’t done much with all the quality ball they’d enjoyed.
One shudders to think how the All Blacks might have dipped their bread.
Critical moments
2 mins: Morne Steyn attempts a drop kick from close to the half-way line. He misses but the Springboks are obviously eager to get the first points up.
3 mins: Eoin Reddan kicks ball away from the Irish 22 Springboks hold possession for two and a half minutes and finally draw a penalty after an Irish offside. They go 3-0 up. First blood.
16 mins: An Irish lineout in the Boks 22. Donncha O’Callaghan taps back to Reddan. His pass to Luke Fitzgerald is intercepted by Juan Smith who wins the foot race to the Irish line, Rob Kearney’s last-ditch effort is fractionally too late.
20 mins: Irish scrum and Tony Buckley comes up on the tighthead side although the ball comes out on the Irish side. A taste of things to come?
23 mins: Jonathan Sexton misses a kickable penalty, which in the end turns out to be an important miss.
30 mins: Mick O’Driscoll, O’Callaghan and Rory Best hold up Jean de Villiers and earn a penalty as the Springboks press in the Irish 22 with possession. Excellent defence from the three.
37 mins: Irish scrum penalised. Buckley not binding properly and Steyn gets his penalty.
42 mins: Steyn misses his first effort at goal in 42 kicks to leave Ireland within one score.
45 mins: Crooked ball into the problematic Irish lineout as more possession is given away
56 mins: Sexton lands a penalty to take Ireland to 16-9, which after Steyn’s earlier penalty brings the gap back to just one score.
59 mins: Irish lineout in the Boks 22 falls to Best. The Irish hooker flicks back to the supporting Stephen Ferris but he fails to hold for what could have been a try.
64 mins: Centre Zane Kirchener breaks up the left for the ’Boks. Two Irish players take him into touch but fullback Gio Aplon comes in support on an angled run for ’Bok try. Converted by Patrick Lambie. No way back for Ireland.
68 mins: Ronan O’Gara, who has come on with Peter Stringer and Donnacha Ryan, visibly lifts the Irish tempo and is almost immediately rewarded when the outhalf kicks crossfield towards Tommy Bowe, who collects and sidesteps Aplon for 23-16. We hear the crowd briefly for the first time.
71 mins: Heaslip breaks and gallops 60 metres but with a man in support either side is tackled. Still the territory is held and two minutes later Rob Kearney is rewarded with Ireland’s second try as the momentum shifts to the home team.
74 mins: O’Gara’s attempt at converting the try and drawing level with the ’Boks from just two metres inside the sideline hits the post and rebounds out. It proves to be Ireland’s final opportunity to put some points on the board.
