Rugby Under21 World Cup: By the end of the first half, it looked like our boys might be about to take a heavy beating in the under-21 World Cup opener yesterday. Nearing the end of the second, they had come to within a three-pointer of a famous win, so to actually leave Iffley Road in Oxford empty-handed was particularly galling.
A mixed bag of a performance, mostly good it has to be said, thus left Ireland with decidedly mixed emotions as they refocus on a pivotal match with Scotland in Newbury next Tuesday. Basically the equation hasn't changed from pre-tournament targets. "We have to beat Scotland and Argentina in our next two matches," admitted Irish coach Michael Bradley.
In the process they'll probably have to better Wales's points tally against the same three opponents, and with the Welsh bagging a bonus point against Scotland yesterday, that target has hardened.
In scorching heat at the Oxford University grounds made famous by Roger Bannister running the first four-minute mile, a bonus point was the least Ireland deserved for a typically tenacious recovery from a slightly self-inflicted 26-12 interval deficit.
"I thought we did a lot of good work and we were happy with that side of it," commented Bradley. "But on the negative side we made too many mistakes to win a match at this level. The lads would have learnt that costly lesson today. We really felt going into this match that we had a chance if we could have restricted ourselves to the positives of our play."
Bradley highlighted the naivety of Ireland's reception of restarts. Four times Michael Rainey landed penalties in the first half, and on every occasion Ireland conceded a score within two minutes as South Africa kicked to the same point in the Irish 22 and Ireland duly recycled and kicked to touch to concede attacking lineouts.
"That's very basic stuff so we changed it at half-time and started using the box kick instead of passing it back to the number 10," said Bradley.
The first South Africa try was a classic case in point, as their pack mauled a lineout from the 22 for their flanker and captain Schalk Burger to burrow over.
The second South Africa try was even more avoidable, as winger Bronwen Buys picked off an ambitious double-skip pass by Rainey to score from halfway. Then, when Ireland's defence failed to regroup after chasing a kick ahead, outhalf Swys Swart cut through and released winger Alshaun Bock from halfway.
Hence, despite having more of the territory, Ireland trailed 26-12 at the break. Playing the excellent Ciarán Potts at openside in a big back row, they took on the Baby Boks (a real misnomer) up front with a mauling, kicking game. Tighthead Declan Fitzpatrick, lock David Gannon and the entire back row showed up very well, as did Glen Telford, a big-tackling inside centre, but it wasn't until the last quarter that they started to use the pace of Tommy Bowe, Keith Matthews and company.
A counter-attacking chip and chase by the gifted Bowe was the catalyst for their overdue first try, on 64 minutes, though it was very much a collective bout of continuity that culminated in Stephen Keogh later picking up Bowe's skip pass and putting Matthews over in the corner.
Rainey's missed conversion would prove costly but despite a drop goal by Derick Hougaard, Ireland brought it back to 29-27 prior to seven minutes of injury time when Potts completed a sequence of forward rumbles.
That was a feather in the cap for the Irish pack, but they couldn't get hold of the ball again and conceded a softish set-piece try when Bock took a stunningly quick straight line through the 9-10 channel off a lineout. There was no shame in the defeat, but there were plenty of if-onlys.
SCORING SEQUENCE
3 mins: Rainey pen 0-3; 5: Swart pen 3-3; 12: Rainey pen 3-6; 13: Burger try 8-6; 20: Swart pen 11-6; 23: Rainey pen 11-9; 25: Buys try, Swart con 18-9; 32: Rainey pen 18-12; 34: Swart pen 21-12; 37: Bock try 26-12; Half-time: 26-12; 61: Rainey pen 26-15; 64: Matthews try 26-20; 71: Hougaard drop goal 29-20; 79: Potts try, Rainey con 29-27; 83: Bock try, Swart con 36-27.
SOUTH AFRICA: M J Mentz; A Bock, B Ferreira, L Uys, B Buys; S Swart, E Januaire; J D Moller, D Dritz, N Fullard, G Gilfillan, R Skeate, S Burger (capt), J Cronje, H Haupt. Replacements: D Hougaard for Uys (21-32) and for Buys (66), B Adams for Haupt (66), A Bekker for Skeate (75), T Chauhanga for Uys (75-80). Sin-binned: Burger (50-63), Cronje (60-71).
IRELAND: T Bowe (Queens University); K Matthews (UL Bohs), B Murphy (UL Bohs), G Telford (Instonians), J Hearty (Blackrock College); M Rainey (Glasgow Hawks), F O'Loughlin (Shannon); J Moran (UCD), R Best (Belfast Harlequins), D Fitzpatrick (Belfast Harlequins), D Gannon (UCD), N McComb (Dundee Highschool), J Muldoon (Galwegians), S Keogh (UCC, capt), C Potts (St Mary's College). Replacements: R Lane (UCC) for Matthews (55), S Crawford (UCD) for McComb, N Ronan (Lansdowne) for Muldoon (both 73), E McGovern (Old Crescent) for Morgan (77). Sin-binned: O'Loughlin (44-57), Crawford (85).
OTHER RESULTS
Wales 37, Scotland 19; Argentina 62, Canada 13; Australia 52, England 22; Japan 14, New Zealand 61; France 34, Italy 7.
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