South Africa 24 Ireland 25 (FT)
Sport, bloody hell
— John O'Sullivan in Durban
And finally, it is only fitting that we leave you with the words of our man in South Africa, John O’Sullivan. You can read his match report below. Bloody hell indeed, John.
[ Ciarán Frawley the man of the hour as Ireland strike late to stun South AfricaOpens in new window ]
Lest we forget, that was Frawley’s second drop-goal of the evening. Minutes earlier, he slotted one from nearly 50m to keep Ireland within touching distance on the scoreboard.
The first piece of post-match content is in. Our man Johnny Watterson has given his player ratings after the Ireland win.
[ South Africa 24 Ireland 25: How the players rated in DurbanOpens in new window ]
Of course, we couldn’t go without hearing from the man of the moment.
Conor Murray spoke to Sky Sports immediately after full-time.
I don’t know, it’s mental. The place is like a fortress, it’s so loud. The lads that came on added real impact. There was positivity in the group, the subs were made at the right time.
— Ciarán Frawley
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the man of the moment isn’t sure what was going through his head when he dropped back into the pocket.
Ciarán Frawley missed a drop-goal in the Champions Cup final, which Leinster went on to lose in extra-time.
This time around, he strikes twice in the last 15 minutes to almost single-handedly secure Ireland’s second ever victory on South African soil.
Just pure elation, seeing the ball going over at the end.
— Caelan Doris
The biggest moment of Ciarán Frawley’s life
Full-time: South Africa 24 Ireland 25
FRAWLEY HAS DONE IT! DROP GOAL, IRELAND WIN
Frawley drops back in the pocket and slots his second drop-goal of the game.
South Africa are furious. They think there was obstruction. Ireland don’t take kindly to their swarming of Dickson and there’s a scuffle with the full-time whistle gone.
The officials do go upstairs to the TMO but... THE KICK STANDS! No obvious obstruction. Ireland win!
80 mins: Wow. Frawley takes a risk but it comes off. McCloskey’s pop pass sends Frawley into space and he choses to kick. If it goes out of play, South Africa probably take the ball and kill the clock. It stays in, forcing Feinberg-Mngomezulu to play it and he is bundled into touch.
Ireland have a last chance with a lineout up towards the 22.
77 mins: Frawley’s first mistake since coming on. He’s trying to find Nash with a kick-pass but he overcooks it. The ball sails out on the full. South African lineout close to Ireland’s 22.
Knock-on! Van Staden spills off the lineout and Ireland will have another chance. The only problem is, the scrum is all the way back on their own 22. It will need something special from here.
76 mins: Lowe sees the ball stripped in contact. Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicks into the 22 but Osborne is patrolling well. His clearance to touch is excellent, taking play back inside the South African half.
75 mins: Oh no. A wild pass from Henshaw sees the ball fly into touch. He didn’t look to see where he was throwing it. He just assumed Lowe was wide when he was cutting inside on a hard angle. A needless error.
73 mins: Lowe takes a high ball brilliantly under pressure. Blade then cleverly buys a penalty by running into an offside Arendse at the edge of the ruck. Frawley kicks down the line and Ireland will have a lineout just short of the 22.
72 mins: Great tackle from Osborne. South Africa go wide off a scrum and Kolbe looks to carry into the 22. Osborne has to make the tackle, and he does, dragging Kolbe into touch.
Not for the first time today, Etzebeth needs to be stitched up with blood pouring down his face!
DROP GOAL CIARÁN FRAWLEY
That’s sensational from Frawley. Straight off the goal line drop, just inside the South African half, Frawley pulls up and slots the drop at goal. Sensational.
South Africa 24 Ireland 22
70 mins: HELD-UP! Healy gets over the line but Snyman and du Toit get underneath the ball.
68 mins: Decision time for Ireland. They miss the lineout but win a penalty for holding on in the breakdown. Points or corner, five points down? They go for the corner.
Ireland get away with one. They mess up the lineout call completely, gifting the ball away, but South Africa threw too many numbers into the lineout. Free-kick 5m from the try line.
67 mins: Caolan Blade is on at 9 and his first involvement of note is a poor box kick. Pollard claims an easy mark and then clears.
A mistake comes, though, from Feinberg-Mngomezulu. He tries to kick downfield but slices it out on the full. Ireland, restored to a full complement, have a rare chance in this second half close to the 22. Frawley is now on at 10.
65 mins: Pollard won’t miss in this mood. This kick was his hardest out towards the left touchline, but he’s now eight from eight off the tee.
South Africa 24 Ireland 19
64 mins: PENALTY SOUTH AFRICA! Bealham goes down in the scrum and the assistant referee makes the call. Pollard will have another shot at goal!
63 mins: Ireland with another error. This time Osborne misjudges a kick for touch, it bounces in play and back into the 22. Under pressure, Osborne is tackled into touch inside his own 22. Joe McCarthy bails his Leinster team-mate out of trouble, though, swimming through the middle of the following maul to win a turnover.
60 mins: Both sides are trading penalties. Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicks a high bomb. Nash spills and McCarthy plays it in an offside position. It looks on second viewing that Nash didn’t touch it, so no knock on and offside, but Pollard nonetheless kicks the penalty as the lead changes hand once again!
South Africa 21 Ireland 19
Ireland are back in front! Crowley slots the kick from 40m out. Wow, Ireland needed that.
South Africa 18 Ireland 19
58 mins: PENALTY IRELAND! Boy they needed that. Kwagga Smith goes over the ruck trying to compete, illegally so. Crowley has a kick in a central position to stem the bleeding.
Prior to that, Ireland made a number of changes. Porter is off for a HIA, while Ryan and van der Flier are also gone. Healy, Baird and O’Mahony are on.
56 mins: Penalty South Africa! It’s death by a thousand cuts at the moment for Ireland. A trademark Snyman offload sends Marx into a gap and Ireland are always struggling from there. Porter plays the ball off his feet right in front of the posts. Pollard kicks his team into the lead!
South Africa 18 Ireland 16
The TMO bunker as ruled on the Doris card. It will stay as yellow, because there were two players involved changing the picture at high speed. Ireland will be very relieved it wasn’t upgraded to red.
53 mins: Just like that, the gap is as narrow as it can be. Pollard kicks the penalty from in front of the posts.
South Africa 15 Ireland 16
52 mins: Tadhg Beirne turns the ball over brilliantly but doesn’t get the penalty reward. When he can’t hold onto it and the ball rolls back to the South African side, James Ryan strays offside. A silly penalty, but Ireland should have had one themselves for Beirne’s breakdown brilliance. Pollard has an easy kick here to narrow the gap to one.
51 mins: Ireland exit from their own 22 brilliantly under pressure. Murray with a good kick which takes play up past the 10m line. Experience showing.
50 mins: Feinberg-Mngomezulu is on fire. He pins Ireland deep inside their own 22 with a beautiful touchfinder, this after he started a counter-attack.
South Africa make another change. Van Staden is on for Kolisi in the backrow.
YELLOW CARD CAELAN DORIS
Ireland are doing this the hard way! There were two croc rolls, if you like. Doris was first, then Ryan, and the Ireland skipper has been adjudged to have been the primary culprit. Pollard kicks the easy penalty, narrowing the gap to four points against a now 14-man Ireland!
South Africa 12 Ireland 16
48 mins: Penalty South Africa! Marx is so good on the floor defensively and his first involvement is to get in over the ball. Ireland resort to the croc roll to get rid of him, a type of clearout which has recently been outlawed. James Ryan was the guilty party. Pollard will have an easy 3 points coming up.
This could be a problem for Ireland. The TMO wants a second look.
South Africa make another pair of changes. Koch is on at tighthead, Marx at hooker after Mbonambi’s last two throws went astray.
45 mins: No mistake from Pollard. Out to the right, 15m in from touch, it’s a lovely strike. Gap is back down to 7.
South Africa also have a HIA, it’s de Klerk who goes. Williams is on at 9.
South Africa 9 Ireland 16
45 mins: Ireland give away a penalty as Henshaw plays the ball off his feet. It all came from another break from Feinberg-Mngomezulu. After struggling in the first half, he’s started the second in some form. Pollard will have a penalty as, in another worrying sign for Ireland, Furlong goes for a HIA. In comes Bealham.
43 mins: CHANCE! Not for the first time, somehow Ireland survive. Feinberg-Mngomezulu breaks a tackle inside his own half and sends Arendse into space. Osborne makes a last ditch tackle but the danger is still there. Kolbe goes close before de Klerk inexplicably decides to kick the ball away, gifting Ireland a chance to clear.
Off the following lineout, Ryan pilfers the ball. That’s back-to-back lineout steals from Ireland.
41 mins: Right, then. The second half is underway. Doris takes Pollard’s kick and Murray clears. A good first exit from Ireland to start the half.
It can’t all be rosy, though. The scrum is a big concern. So far, Tadhg Furlong has given away two penalties, Andrew Porter one.
Errors both at the set piece and in the kicking game which ensured a quarter of the first half was played in Ireland’s 22 was also a concern. A creaking set piece plus that much time close to your own line is not a sustainable formula. Ireland can’t rely on their stellar defence forever.
Caelan Doris leads both sides with 49 metres carried in that first half. He’s been immense. Jamie Osborne is next best with 37 metres. Kwagga Smith is just behind him with 35, but plenty of those came from his break off a charge down which, miraculously for Ireland, didn’t result in a try.
What of South Africa? Well, they haven’t dominated physically as they did last week. The first tackle of the game was a huge hit from Kelleher on Kwagga Smith and that set a tone for Ireland.
In defence, the ‘Boks have been physical as ever but not without offering holes. Ireland have made 115 metres post-contact so far along with eight line breaks. You can’t imagine South Africa will offer up such opportunities after an inevitable Rassie Erasmus hair dryer treatment at half-time.
At this stage, Conor Murray’s try has been the high point for either side. It came from a brilliant Crowley inside ball, allowing Osborne to break the line. Henshaw’s quick pass on the support line to Murray looks simple, but it wasn’t. A brilliant try which has Ireland in a deserved lead.
Half-time: South Africa 6 Ireland 16
What a half. Ireland lead after a polar opposite attacking display compared to last week. They’ve been slick in attack while Crowley’s clever kicking game has kept the blitz defence honest.
If it wasn’t for a series of errors which meant they couldn’t get out of their own 22 for a 10-minute period, they’d be further ahead. Still, a 10-point lead at the break is nothing to be sniffed at.
40 mins: CLOSE! Doris is denied a try by a wonder tackle from du Toit. De Klerk nearly makes a mess of it for his side. He tries to hit Doris before he picks off the scrum but is shrugged off and out of play. That leaves Doris with acres of space with the line in sight, but somehow du Toit makes the tackle.
From there, South Africa stray offside. A handling error butchers a try, but the advantage allows Crowley to end the half with an easy kick under the sticks.
39 mins: Another mistake from South Africa. Pollard’s kick-off bounces over the goal-line. Murray dots it down, giving Ireland a scrum back on halfway.
Ireland get another scrum 5m from the Springbok line! A brilliant flat ball sends Lowe into space. He chips into the 22 and, while he doesn’t have the pace to win the race to the ball, he does manage to capitalise when Pollard slips after carrying it over his own line. Huge chance for Ireland to score before the break.
38 mins: Crowley puts Ireland into a seven-point lead once again. Crowley is successful from a central position close to the 10m line.
South Africa 6 Ireland 13
36 mins: This time South Africa give away a needless penalty. Crowley kicks a high bomb. Once again, Feinberg-Mngomezulu is nowhere near the ball. Henshaw chases to pressure him and du Toit runs across him. Clear obstruction. Dickson makes the call and Crowley will have a shot.
35 mins: Pollard narrows the gap! 15m in from touch and right on the 22, no mistakes.
South Africa 6 Ireland 10
34 mins: Ireland really need to get out of their own 22. Once again, after a big defensive set, they undo the good work with an error. Furlong is pinged by the assistant referee at the scrum, losing another battle to Nche. Pollard this time calls for the kicking tee.
32 mins: Ireland give away a penalty for ripping the ball after the man was tackled. Dickson said de Allende’s knee was down seconds before van der Flier ripped it. South Africa kick into the corner.
Joe McCarthy with the turnover! Again, I’m not sure how Ireland have ended up with the ball, but somehow McCarthy rips it free just after Snyman took the lineout and could set up a dangerous-looking maul.
31 mins: Henshaw’s defensive read is excellent, coming flying out of the line to hit Pollard man and ball. The ball hits the Irish centre’s shoulder and rebounds forward. South Africa will have a scrum.
28 mins: Not for the first time, a poor kick means Ireland shoot themselves in the foot. They take the ball back into the 22 before Lowe belts it long down the field, but straight into touch. A gift of an attacking opportunity for the ‘Boks inside Ireland’s 22.
Ireland survive, again! De Klerk fumbles it at the bottom of a ruck. In the phases before that, Ireland’s defence was very strong in repelling South Africa’s forward runners.
27 mins: OH MY DAYS
How have Ireland not conceded there? Crowley’s kick on halfway is charged down by Kwagga Smith. He’s in, for all money. He scoops the ball and has a clear run to the line. Osborne shows some unreal pace to haul him down just short of the line. The ball ends up on the Irish side, somehow. Karl Dickson says Smith knocked it on. The ‘Boks are convinced there was a cynical Irish hand in there.
Pieter-Steph du Toit gives away a penalty for making a tackle while off his feet. Ireland survive, but I’m still not entirely sure how.
26 mins: Eesh, that was close. Lowe gets caught narrow in the line, allowing Pollard to fizz a flat pass across his face and towards Kolbe in space. If he gathered cleanly, he was one-on-one with Osborne. You’d back him to score. As it happens, he spills the ball forward. A shame, that pass from Pollard deserved better.
25 mins: Ireland are causing problems in the air off that right hand flank. Crowley’s kicking, both in decision making and execution, has been excellent so far. Instead of allowing the ‘Boks build defensive momentum tackle after tackle, he kicks early to Nash. He has the better of Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the air, quite clearly, but a spill in the hunt for the loose ball lets South Africa off with a scrum.
Ireland get a shove on at the scrum but Porter is penalised for not driving square.
23 mins: A patient Ireland attack ends with a spill in the 22. Nash is prominently involved, first taking a flat pass from Crowley to break up to the 22. Then he chases a cross kick from his Munster team-mate, taking it in the air before passing inside to Ringrose. Ireland come back into the middle of the park but Beirne spills the pass before contact. Frustrating end to the attack, but Ireland once again look capable of finding holes.
21 mins: Crowley is inches away from a 50:22. Ireland needed some momentum after some shuddering Springbok hits in defence knocked them back. After a kick exchange, Crowley catches Feinberg-Mngomezulu out of position to send the ball into touch just on the wrong side of the 22.
19 mins: From a central position 40m out, Pollard kicks South Africa’s first points.
South Africa 3 Ireland 10
18 mins: Ireland are obliterated in the scrum. Ox Nche folds Tadhg Furlong in half as the Ireland scrum collapses. Pollard should open their account from the tee here.
17 mins: Unsurprisingly, South Africa come back at Ireland hard after the try. Kolbe does Osborne all ends up with a sidestep to get over the gainline. The clearouts from there are ferocious as they build momentum. Porter goes for a steal but can only spill it forward, giving the ‘Boks a scrum.
Etzebeth comes back on after being stitched up. Snyman goes back off. Well, for all of 30 seconds! As soon as he goes, Snyman has to turn back around to replace Mostert who limps off.
TRY CONOR MURRAY
Brilliant from Ireland. There’s a bit of luck but the skill involved is superb. Crowley’s inside ball to Osborne is juggled by the fullback, but he regathers to bust through the line. He offloads to Henshaw who, in turn, finds the support line of Murray. Ireland have a 10-point lead after the Crowley conversion.
South Africa 0 Ireland 10
13 mins: Ireland’s attack looks much better this week. McCarthy bursts through a tackle before slick handling manages to take play around the blitz and into the 22. Crowley tires a cross kick and Nash competes with Arendse in the air. The ball goes loose and South Africa touch it down for a gal line drop.
11 mins: From one outhalf mistake to another. This time Crowley tries to find space in behind, only to overcook his kick out on the full. South Africa lineout back on halfway.
Worrying signs here for Ireland. Tadhg Furlong is down getting treatment. It looks to be his hamstring which is the issue.
It doesn’t look to be too serious, for now. Furlong is quickly back to his feet to join a lineout.
10 mins: Pollard wastes what was a good attacking opportunity. He tries to find space with a chip into the 22 but he sends it straight to Nash, who calls for an easy mark. Ireland clear.
9 mins: Sloppy from Osborne. Very sloppy. He hares off after a high ball but his timing is far too early. He runs into the jumper in the air, taking out Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is on for le Roux. Penalty only.
8 mins: Nervy moments for Ireland. They deal with the initial carry from Kolisi well, Doris backing up Crowley in the backline. Faf de Klerk immediately spots space in behind and Kolbe sprints after a well-judged kick. Lowe spills, but Murray is on hand to gather. South Africa flood the breakdown but Kolbe is pinged for not rolling away.
There’s more blood here as Etzebeth goes off with his face streaming. RG Snyman is on as a blood sub.
6 mins: Ireland are on the board! It was just out to the right on the 10m line and Crowley slots the kick.
South Africa 0 Ireland 3
5 mins: Etzebeth is a one-man wrecking ball. Once again, he comes flying out of the line to disrupt Ireland’s attempted passing. How is he so quick? Because he’s offside, is the answer on this occasion. The assistant referee makes the call. Jack Crowley has a straightforward enough shot at goal coming up.
3 mins: Ireland’s first lineout of the day nearly goes awry as South Africa compete well. Kelleher recovers and spins it wide. After one phase, Etzebeth comes sprinting out of the line looking for an intercept but he can’t hang on. He made an attempt to catch it, so it’s a scrum only.
Ireland get a free-kick for an early shove. Doris taps and away he goes into contact.
2 mins: Ireland go through multiple phases but are smashed back into their own half. A Murray box kick sees the ball end up back on the Irish side. Lowe kicks through as Pollard clears. He is hit a touch late by Ringrose whose pressure forces a loose kick. Ireland lineout close to the 22.
Willie le Roux goes off for a HIA while Franco Mostert has a bloody nose. On replay, le Roux took a blow to the head off Lowe’s knee while trying to make a tackle.
1 min: Karl Dickson, today’s referee, blows his whistle and we are underway. Jack Crowley and Ireland kick things off. Kwagga Smith takes the kick and tries to run it back. He takes a massive shot from Rónan Kelleher. Game on!
Anthems are done, it’s time for kick-off. South Africa are once again in their away white kit, Ireland are in their customary greens.
The temperature is in the mid-20s in Durban. It was touching 30 during the week, apparently. It’s winter in the southern hemisphere. Here, in the Irish summer, well it’s not that hot, it it?
We’re always looking at ways at growing our leadership group. There are always challenge we’re going to throw at ourselves.
— Andy Farrell
Andy Farrell, speaking to Sky, on the decision to drop Peter O’Mahony and hand the captaincy to Caelan Doris.
We can’t all have John O’Sullivan’s view, but he can at least share it with all us jealous folk.
One man who, needless to say, is crucial to Ireland’s attack, is outhalf Jack Crowley. John O’Sullivan spoke to him during the week about his year as the main man now that he has stepped up as the heir to Johnny Sexton’s throne.
[ Jack Crowley impresses early on in his journey to becoming Ireland’s go-to manOpens in new window ]
Last week, South Africa showed lots of attacking intent and were reasonably successful. Well, in the first half anyway. Ireland, by contrast, had a more narrow approach and didn’t attack as well. History tells us that is strange. Why did it happen? The below piece explains.
[ How South Africa’s new attack can inspire Ireland to click back into gearOpens in new window ]
One storyline which has been lost amidst all the Ireland-South Africa chatter is Andy Farrell’s milestone. Today marks the 50th match of his tenure as Ireland head coach. Statistically speaking, he has made a strong argument for being the best men’s coach this country has had.
Meanwhile, two other big games have already finished up this morning in the southern hemisphere. England and New Zealand served up another thriller, with the All Blacks prevailing, while Joe Schmidt’s Australia wrapped up a 2-0 series win over Wales.
Reports below.
[ Summer internationals: New Zealand battle past England as Australia see of WalesOpens in new window ]
The tourists may have suffered the rough end of the officiating but no one sought refuge there. There was a lack of intensity in the first half, a passivity that wormed its way into both attack and defence; the shortfall in concentration, communication and execution poisoned the best of intentions.
— John O'Sullivan
John O’Sullivan is our reporter in Durban and he has previewed today’s action. You can read his work here.
[ Ireland need to tap into their usual standards of energy and accuracyOpens in new window ]
Ireland, by contrast, have made a number of changes. Some enforced by injury, others not.
With Dan Sheehan and Craig Casey injured and having already flown home, Rónan Kelleher and Conor Murray start in their place. Bundee Aki is also injured, meaning Garry Ringrose lines out at 13 as Robbie Henshaw shifts inside to 12.
The big news, though, is the decision to drop Peter O’Mahony. The Ireland captain has been relegated to the bench. James Ryan comes in at lock and Tadhg Beirne moves to the backrow as Ireland look for a bit more power in their pack.
Caelan Doris steps in as captain, the second time he has led his country from the start of a Test match.
We’ll start with the team news. The home team up first and it’s short and sweet. They’re completely unchanged from jersey 1-23 as Rassie Erasmus keeps faith in the squad which delivered victory last week in Pretoria. In terms of total caps, this is the most experienced Springbok line-up to ever take to the field.
As always, Siya Kolisi captains from the six jersey. Handre Pollard is still the ringleader of this new, more expansive ‘Bok attack at outhalf. He impressed in his new distributor role but, strangely enough, struggled with his bread and butter skill - kicking off the tee.
The bomb squad remains intact with the likes of Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch and RG Snyman waiting for their opportunities off the bench.
We go again. Seven days after what turned out to be an epic Test in Pretoria, ireland and South Africa square off once again. The series is on the line in Durban. Avoid defeat and the Springboks have the bragging rights between the sides ranked one and two in the world. If Ireland win and draw the series 1-1, they at least save some face and ensure most of the spice of this series will survive until these two meet again.
Nathan Johns here to tell you what’s what as the afternoon progresses. Kick-off at Kings Park is at 4pm, we’ll be building up to the action until then.
