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Boks bowed as Ciaran Frawley magic secures last-gasp Ireland win
By PA
Ciaran Frawley coolly landed a last-gasp drop goal as Ireland weathered a second-half storm to pull off a stunning 25-24 victory in Durban and secure a 1-1 series draw against South Africa.
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Frawley stepped off the bench to split the posts in dramatic fashion with the final action of a thrilling encounter at Kings Park Stadium following a similar effort just 10 minutes earlier.
Andy Farrellās side looked set to slip to an agonising defeat to the back-to-back world champions after Conor Murrayās try helped reward a ferocious first-half display with a 16-6 lead.
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Flawless fly-half Handre Pollard slotted eight penalties to turn the contest in the Springboksā favour on the back of their 27-20 triumph last weekend in Pretoria.
But Frawley sensationally added to 14 points from Ireland number 10 Jack Crowley to secure a statement success from Farrellās 50th Test as head coach.
The extraordinary twist came at the end of an undisciplined second period from Ireland during which stand-in captain Caelan Doris was sin-binned.
Victory was just Irelandās second on South African soil and even more impressive given they were without five of their first-choice stars after injured pair Dan Sheehan and Bundee Aki joined tour absentees Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan on the list of unavailable talent.
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Farrell dropped skipper Peter OāMahony to the bench as part of four personnel changes from the opening Test and warned his players to expect South Africa to be ātwice as goodā as seven days ago.
The hosts stuck with an unchanged 23, including selecting the most experienced starting XV in the nationās history, following a first success over the Irish since 2016.
Springboks full-back Willie le Roux was forced off by a head injury, while team-mates Franco Mostert and Eben Etzebeth were left with bloodied faces during an intense opening in which Crowley calmly slotted a penalty.
Irelandās physical start was deservedly rewarded with a superb 14th-minute try.
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Slick interplay between Jamie Osborne and Robbie Henshaw opened up the hostsā defence, leaving scrum-half Murray to add to his score in Pretoria with another diving finish.
A bruising encounter showed little sign of relenting and Ireland prop Andrew Porter was left bloodied for the second successive week after Pollardās penalty put South Africa on the scoreboard.
The impressive away side dominated the opening third of the match.
Yet they were reliant on alert full-back Osborne producing a crucial last-ditch tackle just metres from the try line to preserve their lead after Kwagga Smith charged down a Crowley kick to race clear.
Pollard and Crowley exchanged further penalties, while Doris was held up on the line by Pieter-Steph du Toit moments before the break.
The Six Nations champions should really have turned their territory into a second try but had to settle for the consolation of another three points from the boot of Crowley to end a fierce first half 10 points in front.
South Africa returned fired up and moved within four points following two more Pollard penalties, the second of which was converted after stand-in skipper Doris was yellow-carded for a crocodile roll on Malcolm Marx.
Poor discipline was piling pressure on Ireland and proved extremely costly during a monumental shift in momentum.
The Springboks led for the first time in the 58th minute following Pollardās sixth penalty of the evening and then quickly restored the lead through two more kicks from the same player after Crowleyās boot briefly stemmed the one-way traffic.
Ireland remained in touching distance going into the closing stages and, after again being held up on the line, reduced the deficit to just two points thanks to Frawleyās fine drop goal from distance.
Farrellās men were on the verge of suffering a second successive loss for the first time since the 2021 Six Nations before Frawley repeated the trick in a fascinating climax to stun South Africa.
Emojis! The mark of a moron.
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Just 2019, thenā¦
Nah mate, I was there when the Boks won the first World Cup in 1995. If you honestly think a two-game series (which was drawn let us not forget) is more important than winning a World Cup you are even dumber than your posts suggests.
But, donāt let me stop you - go and celebrate your 1-1 series draw. I imagine there will be a victory parade in Dublin pretty soon. Clearly Ireland play for bragging rights because they canāt win world cups. I honestly feel sorry for you that you donāt know what itās like to win a World Cup. Different world mate.
100% record against the dope boys at RWC.
I only admire bok fans who understand that test rugby predates world cups by over a century. Iām guessing you only started watching the sport in 2019?
If your scrum and lineout are dominant, and you get a penalty on the 5m line, why would you kick for 3 points. Gutless.
Its endless..
Pros and Cons for SA
Pros
1) Scrums looked generally dominant - this is good considering the quality of the Irish pack
2) Tackling were generally good particularly at the goal-line
3) Pollyās kicking is back
Cons - Decision-making really
1) Fafās grubber at their own goal-lineā¦why? It really feels like the boks dont trust their ability to cross the goal-line. Funk that. Charge hard and trust yourselves
2) Sacha kicking the ball away in the last 5 minutes. Boks had momentum and IRL was probing the RSA defense
3) Lack of jackals - feels like the counter-ruck was not strong
This game was highly entertaining. Lessons for RSA:
1) switch on early - canāt let IRL build a lead
2) decision-making - LeRoux is not always going to be there for you. We need at least two ppl capable of running the backline. Develop Sacha and teach a spare - I think we really missed Willemse in this match
Thoughts going fwd
1) Faf has looked pretty awful these last two games - itās more in his choices than anything else.
2) Where are the real 8-men? Kwagga is too small and not good enough on offense. Marco has no lateral ability
Full credit to IRL for beating RSA at home without all your starters. This series did not settle the question of who is the better team now. If you think IRL is afraid, think again.
The takeaway is South Africa only need to peak every four years John, next again in over three years time ;)
Nar hope you guys still enjoyed the game, it was a more traditional bok game again right? That result was crazy unlucky. I was just as stoked with NZ playing itās traditional game, missing in many facets but creating lots of opportunities. Iām glad I didnāt get to feel how not coming out on top would have tasted but am telling myself it would have been how it goes. Two top touring teams we were up against.
NZ and Aus only RC teams to win their series though :)
A largely second string Ireland - at the end of a 55 week season - beat the boks in their own sand pit. And Trump got shot.
ALL-TIMER WEEKEND!!!
Barry, is that a joke? I hope not!
Also, maateā¦ YOU PLAY IN THE SAME COMP SA DOES, you can add all the SA teams flying on top of how your boys are feeling ;)
So are they both the best team in the world now orā¦.
Well done to Ireland. We will see you again in November I hope
Hahaha the irony, seeing all the bitter South African fans whining about the Irish kicking the leather off the ball and winning by 1 point.
How about just giving Ireland kudos. A long list of injuries, new caps, playing away from home, a long season, and all against a tough team to beat who historically grind it out and keep it tight. Thatās a hell of a result to pull off and rugby is better for it.
Can you post some of those bitter, whining messages? I seem to have missed themā¦
Read my post straight after the match. Well done Ireland. Great game good outcome. Fair just snd bloody exciting. What more does a rugby supporter want ?
Well done Ireland well deserved . Better team on the day. Some heroes and what could anybody want from a test match than that finish. Alan - well played Ireland. Looking forward to rrenewing our rivalry š¤
Hahaha well done IRE. Some of these bloody Boks fans on here have been plain unbearable.
Hey boet. Back off. We are just congratulating Ireland on a fantastic win. Just like you did two yearās ago. Look at it facing POV. You are not in a very good space š
Lots of hilarious comments here. Total Bs. Great game and deservedly won by Ireland. I sm sure most Springboks would agree, Ireland deserved the won.
125 now. What can I say. It is an extreamly violent country I live in and someone has to catch the bad guys while the fat cops are sleeping. Fyi 120 is not heavy lifting. Maybe if you can do 10+ reps at that weight but not for one rep max.
Wow you actually caught that one.
120 kilos!!!!!!!!!!
Yes it did not matter because you choked again afterwords and this time against one of the worst All Black teams in history. But hey live in hope ok.
Oh the ironyā¦
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You mean RWC 2023 when we beat the boks?
I have love and joy in my heart.
Or an half breed Irishman?
An accurate description of the boks team.
Yes and I have also heard you. Rassie has two world cups and an B&I series win to his name along with a lenthy ban for his stupidity. What do you have?
South Africa āguttedā? . . . at Irelandās two excellent drop kicks after they had kicked 8 penalties and no tries. . . .Get a grip!
No, you twat. Gutted because SA clawed back from a 10 point deficit to lead by five and then lose to a drop-goal in injury time? Do you not have the intellectual capacity to understand that or are you being willfully obtuse?
Beaten by the best team in the world, again š¤£
Guttedā¦Brilliant win by Ireland
Iām not surprised about this result in the slightest. Neither of these teams is quite as good as they imagine they are.
Barrett save the day for you earlier? If only he'd done it in the RWC, instead of kicking like a granny.
Canāt view a replay yet so just watched some extended highlights. Looks like a another great match worthy of a battle of the best.
My two takeaways Iām interested in, did Faf blow South Africas chances by directing a short passing forward orientated game when hot on attack after that break? Nothing seemed to go right, after that, it set the tone for picking up 3, which obviously wasnāt going to be enough (really looked like Ireland had come to play in the 10 or so minutes of hls so far.
Did we all get what we were after from a more thorough referring of the contests? There was some opinion shared that being strict and enforcing the laws we force a repentantly clean contest. We know how that theory always pans out. Was there any chance the last 20minutes was better as a result?
Also: great to hear the Durban faithful chanting āAll Blacks! All Blacks!ā when Ireland were hard on attack down in the corner their. They know their rugby and who the real #1 team is.
Faf got schooled by a 35 year old. All day. Utterly owned.
Who gives a fook? Ireland won!
Truth be told there is not much in it between the top four teams right now and that is great for rugby. The last world cup was wide open and The Springboks won the final but one bouce of the ball here or a semi compitent ref there and it might have been a different story. Thatās all history now. But it is so nice to see a test like today where it was actually the rugby that can be debated instead of the ref or the tmo. Any other day Osbourne might have seen red for something only worth a penalty.
Without Dickson's SA MotM performance the scoreline would have been closer to 32 - 12 for Ireland. Iām no fan of the Irish but they owned SA in every aspect of the game.
Lame and weak.
Very even-handed. Perhaps you could apply that logic to how SA āwonā a world cup and how the ABs didn't lose the final, the boks ground it out.
Why? It was a great game of rugby. Till the end you never knew who would win and then Ireland won it by one point with a wonderful play to end the match.
You paid to watch the boks instead? Get a refund
Well you'd be the only bok supporter in history to admit that.
Can't wait for Rassie dassieās excuses.
As a South African, I know I am not a professional player or coach, but can someone please tell me why on earth would you.
1- Kick the ball away when you can smell Irelands tryline?
2- Kick possession away with 2 and a half minutes left, you in their 22, and 5 Points ahead.
3- You just got a scare, because you kicked possession away and Ireland got 3 points on the board, so what do we do now? 3 Points ahead, we have possession in Irelands half, and the clock is about to go into the red, guess what springboks feel the best thing to do isā¦. Hand possession away again.
As I say, I am not a professional coach, or player, but my God, could we not hold the ball for 2 Minutes to finish things off?
Nothing against Ireland, you guys dominated about 60% of the game.
And for the love of God, can Sacha get game time, him along with Ox were literally the only players that showed actions of a someone that wanted to win.
this really. Shit decision-making from the 9 at the goal-line and the 15 in the last 5 minutes. Faf has been faf in the series - bring back the other 9 from the RWC to comepte
Yeah Faf had a shocker
kicking the ball is what SA do.
I thought that little grubber was fraction off from being perfect, and play had come to a standstill/standoff just before that?
I thought with one and a half to go that we would retain posession and run the clock down. We gave Ireland a sniff anf they took it. On another day they might have ran and played for a penalty but today they chose the right option and the execution was perfect.