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The Springboks finally broke their Irish drought with an unconvincing 24-13 win over Ireland in what was essentially a slugfest at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday night.
The Boks will be happy to have won, but will not be pleased with the performance after they dominated proceedings but were unable to put the game away after some brilliant Irish defence over the 80 minutes, particularly in their own 22m.
It was the Boks first win in Dublin since 2012, and was just their second win over Ireland in six matches. Here are three takeaways from a frustrating stop-start match:
Big reffing calls
Refs must dread being in charge of a Springbok match nowadays after the recent controversial calls that went against them, but England’s Matthew Carley produced a decent showing with the whistle, under immense pressure after a number of big decisions came his way.
First was a tackle from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, that was brought up by the TMO, but after a careful check was deemed a penalty only with him on his haunches, trying to wrap and the contact on shoulder and then head.
Ireland lock James Ryan was then lucky not to get a permanent red, after recklessly charging in at a ruck shoulder first, making contact with Malcom Marx’s chest and then head, with him yellowed and the decision sent to the bunker, before it was deservedly upgraded to a 20-minute red card. Ireland’s Tommy O’ Brien made a highish tackle that saw a head clash with Canan Moodie, but was only deemed a yellow.
Jack Crowley received a deserved yellow for cynical play and Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter were yellowed for multiple scrum penalties. Carly however made a contentious call right at the end of the match giving Ireland a chance, penalising the Boks for celebrating a knock on, while Grant Williams received a late yellow for cynical play.
Springbok scrum dominance
You don’t want to talk about the same stuff every week but it’s hard not to when it plays such a massive role in the match.
Once again the Boks dominated the scrum battle. The front row Boan Venter, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit were immense from the start. Putting huge pressure on the Irish front row of Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong.
Porter was initially put under huge pressure by Du Toit, before Venter started working over Furlong. A slew of penalties followed, and Ireland were already on the back foot when Gerhard Steenekamp and Wilco Louw came on shortly before halftime.
They immediately won a scrum penalty that saw Furlong yellow carded after four straight scrum penalties, and they followed that up by smashing the scrum again for a penalty try.
The Bok scrum continued to crank in the second half, with Ireland conceding more penalties, and Andrew Porter was the next to the bin for the infringements.
Not clinical and error strewn Springboks
The Springboks should have absolutely destroyed Ireland with the player advantage they had over large parts of the game, as well as the number of chances they created and the scrum dominance they enjoyed.
But Ireland amazingly defended their line over the match and made multiple turnovers and steals in their 22m, as they repelled the Boks time and again over the 80 minutes.
It was incredible that going into the final 10 minutes the hosts only trailed by 11 points. The Boks did score some nice tries to Damian Willemse, running in from a lineout on halfway, Cobus Reinach sniping over from a ruck, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scoring a great solo effort again, while they also were awarded a penalty try.
But against 13 men on two occasions, they conceded a converted try to Dan Sheehan and a penalty to Sam Prendergast, which helped keep the hosts in the match.
They then spent the final five minutes of the match camped in the Bok 22m, but the visitors held out in the end, finally showing their own defensive strength.
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