From the disappointment of CJ Stander’s sending-off to the sheer elation felt at the final whistle, Ireland ran the full gamut of emotions on the way to beating the Springboks for the first time ever on South African soil.
Ireland doggedly overcame flanker CJ Stander’s red card in the 23rd minute to record a momentous win against a powerful South African side, with a combination of smart attacking, razor-sharp defence and an infectious collective will seeing them through.
The quietened Newlands Stadium crowd could barely believe what they were witnessing as Ireland prevailed despite being without Stander for almost an hour, and being reduced to 13 men when Robbie Henshaw was sin-binned approaching half-time.
Ireland’s impressive start in Cape Town, which included a well-worked Jared Payne try from a Luke Marshall grubber kick, unravelled when Stander was controversially sent-off by referee Mathieu Raynal for connecting with Pat Lambie’s head as he jumped to block a kick.
The ‘Boks, who had struggled to contain Ireland’s initial mauls, bounced back from the double blow of Payne’s touchdown and Lood de Jager’s subsequent sin-binning. All under the watchful eye of new head coach Allister Coetzee.
Suddenly, a 10-3 lead – beefed up by five points from Paddy Jackson’s right boot – was erased by an Elton Jantjies’ penalty and a converted 32nd-minute try from flying winger Lwazi Mvovo, although Marshall appeared to be obstructed in the build-up to the latter score.
Henshaw saw yellow for a high tackle on Jantjies as he passed to Mvovo and in an inspiring defensive stand, 13-man Ireland scrambled to deny the ‘Boks a second try on the stroke of half-time.
Indeed, a drop goal from Jackson three minutes before the break got Joe Schmidt’s men back on level terms – 13-13 – and the visitors made the ideal start to the second half, the excellent Conor Murray using his speed and strength to cross the whitewash within three minutes.
Payne, who had an accomplished first international start at full-back, was a key man in the lead up to the try, timing his run to perfection, and the Ulster influence increased as Jackson converted for 20-13 and then almost scurried through midfield for a try himself.
Man-of-the-match Devin Toner was the pick of the forwards, soaring in the lineout and doing an immense amount of hard graft in the loose, with fellow lock Iain Henderson also revelling in the physical nature of the game. The pair’s work-rate was very much matched by the two-man back row of Jordi Murphy and Jamie Heaslip.
Andrew Trimble stepped in at flanker for a number of unyielding scrums and covered a huge amount of ground to stop the ‘Boks’ dangermen from breaking through, as did Keith Earls on the opposite wing. Captain Rory Best was at the centre of Ireland’s strong set piece display and came up with some important defensive plays too, while lively loosehead Jack McGrath topped the tackle count with 17.
Despite the pace offered by the South African back-three and the immense ball-carrying grunt of their forwards, Ireland diligently kept their shape in defence and their discipline, continuing to frustrate the ‘Boks up to the hour mark.
The ice-cool Jackson watched his 61st-minute long range penalty come back off the right hand post, but he was right on the money eight minutes later to widen the margin to 10 points. The phases leading up to the kick included a lineout steal from Toner and some clever work on the ball by the industrious Henshaw.
Just when it looked like Ireland were stretching clear, Jackson’s pass from the restart was intercepted by South African replacement Pieter-Steph du Toit for a real sucker-punch score which brought the home fans back to life. Jantjies added the extras to reduce the arrears to three.
However, Ireland were not going to go into their shells. They worked their way back downfield with replacements Sean Cronin and Ultan Dillane both carryingly strongly, and Jackson was narrowly wide with a drop goal attempt.
Turnovers were killing the Springboks’ momentum and one from the tireless Murray came at a vital stage. The hosts’ discipline was also lacking as a second ruck penalty conceded by prop Frans Malherbe allowed Jackson to make it 26-20 with a terrific strike from the 10-metre line.
In a testing and tense final three minutes, the ‘Boks showed improved width, but again Ireland’s stubborn defence got the better of them. Henshaw and Payne, along with the fast-arriving Jackson, managed to bundle JP Pietersen into touch to deny the winger a last-minute try and kickstart joyous celebrations for the tourists.
Schmidt’s class of 2016 wrote their names into Irish rugby’s record books as the first Ireland team to overcome the ‘Boks in an away Test match, achieving what the touring sides of 1961, 1981, 1998 and 2004 failed to do.
After seven tour defeats in South Africa across those years, Ireland finally have a result to cherish, one which takes their recent record against the ‘Boks to five victories in seven meetings since 2004. It is the first step on the way to what Schmidt and the players hope will be a series win in the coming weeks.
Second row Toner emotionally dedicated the performance to his late father Peter who passed away suddenly just prior to last month’s GUINNESS PRO12 final. “Can I just say, that’s for Dad,” he said in his post-match interview.
“Really proud of everyone to be honest. I suppose what happened in the first 20 minutes, going down to 14 men and going down to 13 men, I think we really needed to dig deep.
“We know the ‘Boks are an awesome side. They’re a strong side, a big side, so we really needed to knuckle down and thankfully we did that.”
Highlighting the influence of Ireland’s new defence coach Andy Farrell, the Meath man added: “We did a lot of homework going into it and I thought our coaches put a huge amount of work into it. We put a lot of work into our ‘D’.
“I think ‘Faz’ coming in has added a new dimension to our ‘D’. We’re getting off the line, we’re trying to put hits in and thankfully it came off today. The amount of homework we did came through.”
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