Ireland End Quilter Nations Series With Bruising Defeat To South Africa

Ireland lost to South Africa for the first time in four home matches, going down 24-13 in a Quilter Nations Series finale that saw a clutch of cards for the hosts, and the Springboks dominate the scrum.

The World champions punished Ireland’s indiscipline to lead 19-7 at half-time, a penalty try in the final play coming while Sam Prendergast, replacement Jack Crowley, and Andrew Porter were all in the sin bin.

More significantly, James Ryan’s illegal clearout had ended his involvement after just 19 minutes, the lock’s 20-minute red card leaving Ireland under the pump but they responded with a galvanising Dan Sheehan try.

South Africa had earlier crossed through Damian Willemse (3 minutes) and Cobus Reinach (33), and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu cancelled out Prendergast’s early second-half penalty with a fine finish on a 35-metre run-in.

Some decibel-raising defensive stands helped Andy Farrell’s side actually edge the closing 40 minutes by six points to five. They rallied again following a Paddy McCarthy yellow card, and narrowly missed out on a late consolation try.

Head coach Farrell said afterwards: “The overriding feeling for me is I’m unbelievably proud of the players to go down to 12 men – start the second half with 12 men, and then 13 and 14 – and to come out with a scoreline of 6-5.

“It’s still a loss and we’re disappointed with that, but the overriding feeling is unbelievably proud of the boys. If we can’t take any learnings from that then we’re in the wrong place.

“There were seven scrum penalties, I think there were, and that’s what South Africa have done to many a team, so it’s obviously something we need to look at and get some clarification on.”

He added: “I think we’re in a good place. The journey starts really with trying to find where you’re at, and you have to play these games to find out where you’re at.

“If you look at what’s been created there over the autumn, the experience that some of the lads have got, the ones that have got very little caps, they’re the ones that have stood up really tall.

“There’s great learnings from all of that, and yeah, we’ll take that into the Six Nations (and that opening game away to France in February).”

Long skip passes from the half-backs twice had James Lowe launching early kick chases, Ireland’s positive start continuing with Josh van der Flier carrying hard out the back of a lineout with the visitors’ 22 within reach.

However, Jasper Wiese’s subsequent turnover penalty got South Africa, who were chasing their first win in Dublin since 2012, on the move. Damian de Allende’s incisive run opened up options, and crisp passing put Willemse diving over in the left corner.

Lowe shrugged off Cheslin Kolbe to breach the opposition 22 soon after, and tempers flared when Feinberg-Mngomezulu caught Tommy O’Brien with a high tackle. The TMO review ended with a penalty only.

The Irish back-three combined near the left touchline, getting O’Brien to within a couple of metres of the try-line, only for Thomas du Toit to rescue the situation for South Africa with a crucial turnover.

Wearing their white alternate jerseys, Ireland lost ground with a couple of penalties given away, yet the aerial contest was going their way. When the Springboks were penalised twice in quick succession, Sam Prendergast was presented with his first shot at goal.

Despite the left-hand post denying the young out-half, Lowe was first in to claim the ball in the air. An attacking wave was suddenly whipped up, at the end of which Tadhg Beirne touched down just to the left of the posts.

Irish elation quickly turned to disappointment as Ryan’s clearout on Marx was looked at in the build-up. Having spoken to TMO Andrew Jackson, referee Matthew Carley sin-binned the Dubliner for ‘making contact with the head’, and the try was duly disallowed.

Worse followed for Ryan as the off-field review resulted in him receiving a 20-minute red card. By that stage, Ireland’s defence had coped pretty well with what the ‘Boks threw at them, both Mack Hansen and Beirne standing out in that regard.

Boan Venter had a close-range try ruled out for a forward pass from Wiese, but Rassie Erasmus’ charges put the squeeze on through a series of penalties. One of them saw O’Brien tackle Canan Moodie high and go off permanently due to a failed HIA.

The pressure told when scrum half Reinach, using his pace and a smart dummy, sniped over off the back of a ruck. Prendergast was dispatched to the sin bin, following three team penalties in the same sequence, before Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted.

Ireland’s response was almost immediate, a 35th-minute penalty leading to Ryan Baird’s one-handed lineout take and van der Flier bumping off Venter’s attempted tackle. Bundee Aki also beat a defender before Sheehan crossed from a classy Gibson-Park pass.

Initially brought on at full-back in a rejigged back-line, Crowley launched over the conversion to close the gap to 12-7, but Ireland could not get to the interval without enduring further setbacks.

Crowley’s ‘cynical’ hand at a ruck, which caused Reinach to knock on, earned him a yellow card. Cian Prendergast came on following the conclusion of Ryan’s red, yet the Springboks’ scrummaging power proved too much.

Vodacom Bulls props Gerhard Steenekamp and Wilco Louw were sent on to beef up ‘Boks front row even more. Another scrum penalty landed Porter in the bin, and a further one – against a seven-man Irish pack – saw the penalty try awarded.

The penalty count was 11-5 against Ireland at that point, and they began the second period with just 12 men. Hansen restarted and replacement McCarthy made his presence felt as a ball carrier. The returning Sam Prendergast split the posts with a well-struck 48-metre penalty.

Nonetheless, Feinberg-Mngomezulu fashioned a quick-fire reply for this year’s Rugby Championship winners. Armed with a penalty advantage, he showed his pace to prize open a gap, fending off Gibson-Park to extend the lead to 24-10.

Young loosehead McCarthy came up with an important turnover before Porter and van der Flier brought Ireland back to their full complement. Captain Caelan Doris, a real defensive rock throughout, and Baird combined to force a maul turnover.

Gibson-Park followed up with an excellent clearance kick, and he drew a kickable penalty from Steenekamp once Farrell’s men were back on the front foot. Sam Prendergast slotted over the place-kick from 29 metres out.

The remaining 25 minutes saw pressure exerted on both defences. Despite Cian Prendergast, who brought impact off the bench, digging in for a penalty at the breakdown, Pieter-Steph du Toit hit back with a lineout steal and some nimble work to keep a kick in play.

Lowe and Crowley did well to hold up Jesse Kriel, but having been warned about ‘scrummaging up’ by the referee, McCarthy was yellow carded on the hour mark for successive scrum penalties.

The sin-binning led to Porter returning to the field, van der Flier having to go off again, and Aki stepping in at blindside flanker for the scrums as he had done late in the first half.

Recent debutant Tom Farrell replaced a hobbling Hansen, and Ireland gradually regained some lost metres. Finlay Bealham pounced on a loose ball for another turnover, and the tireless Garry Ringrose did well to tidy up possession on a couple of occasions.

Crowley did even better, rescuing a difficult situation to recover a Lowe kick that had been blocked and evade the clutches of two chasing Springboks. Just 30 seconds later, he had to scurry back to deny Moodie a try from a kick through.

The Cork native’s inspirational defending lifted his team-mates for a final push downfield. Cian Prendergast pinched a lineout, and two penalties later, van der Flier and McCarthy were both stopped short following a maul near the right corner.

South African replacement Grant Williams was slow to roll away after making a tackle, promptly receiving a yellow card. There was no late reward for Ireland, though, as McCarthy and Jack Conan were both brought down short of the whitewash.