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RSA vs IRL
International Men's Rugby
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
South Africa
vs
Ireland
27
FT
20
Action
Lineups
All
Facts Only
All
Full-Time: 27 - 20
It's a disappointing result for Ireland who would have felt that they were very much in it right up until the final whistle. A couple of missed opportunities at crucial moments had them fall just short at the end despite two late tries. They will, however, have the opportunity to do it all over again next weekend when the two sides met again in Durban for the second match of the series. The Boks will be pleased to have opened their international season with a win in front of their home crowd.
Ireland had plenty of opportunities with ball in hand, but were up against a relentless defensive effort from the Boks. They also got a little unlucky at times, with a cheeky boot from Kelleher forcing the turnover that led to Lowe's disallowed try given the hooker was lying on the floor, a ball possibly kept in by Lowe that led to Kolbe's try with no camera angle on the side that could have proved he was already in touch before letting go of the ball, and a second attempted try by the Irish that was ground on a leg rather than the tryline. The finest of margins here could have brought about a very different result today.
As a result of their neutralised scrums and static mauls, South Africa were forced instead to spread the ball around and run it. They made use of plenty of little chips and crossfield kicks to try and put their backline into space, and Kolbe and Arendse were excellent on the chase to retain a couple of those and get onto the front foot. The Boks were very dangerous around the wide channels, but then so were Ireland when they had ball in hand and got it out to the likes of Lowe.
South Africa really struggled to use their usual attacking tactics, with their scrum largely neutralised for most of the game. They gave away a free kick and a penalty for putting too much weight into the set without the ball, and even found themselves under a bit of pressure at some of the early scrum before finally hitting their stride with the infamous bomb squad late in the second half to get some dominance up front. Their mauls were a similar story, with a couple of them immediately halted or driven sideways to prevent the Boks from using it to get go-forward ball to their backline.
It wasn't exactly pretty at the end, but South Africa come away with the win, their first over Ireland in 8 years. Two yellow cards -- one apiece -- and three tries between them in the last 7 minutes really had this game on tenterhooks right up until the final whistle as neither side was going to go down quietly. Despite how close the scores were throughout the game, Ireland never took the lead at any point, with the Boks staking their claim early on with a try less than 3 minutes in and holding their lead until the final hooter even as Ireland continued to fight back at the death.
80+1'
Lowe claims the restart and Ireland drive up into contact as the clock ticks into the red. Infield ball to Bealham who is smashed in the tackle and loses the ball forward! Game over!
80'
Conversion is wide across the face from out on the left touchline.
80'
J. Crowley
Missed Conversion
79'
Short restart is well taken by Ireland and they drive up the left wing to the 22 before shifting through the hands out to the right wing. Slow ball before they send it back infield. Nash nearly through the gap before throwing a horrendous pass out to the left wing. That looked forward, but it's not been called back so possibly just the angle there. Gathered by Lowe on the bounce, and he offloads to Baird to dive over in the left corner!