Resourceful Ireland gain reward for massive effort

AUTUMN INTERNATIONAL Ireland 15 South Africa 10: IT'S AMAZING what a little bit of will, allied to skill, can achieve. As is true of all Declan Kidney's teams, Ireland are now infused with an unshakeable self-belief and work ethic, and that willingness to go the extra yard, make the extra man or the extra tackle, and to row with the punches before working out whatever is required to reach the winning line.

Invariably, there are virtually no weak links in the chain, or if there are (such as the scrum here) they are somehow overcome or worked out. In the heel of the hunt, Ireland had vastly more of the game, won more possession, applied more pressure and thus utterly deserved to win. Yet such are the inevitable wafer-thin margins in these games it needed the rub of the green too. Whereas Jonathan Sexton played with the assurance of a player with 50 caps rather than one, and landed five beautifully-struck penalties while missing two from long range, Morne Steyn had an unusually awry day all-round and missed all of his three penalties at goal.

His 44th minute miss from 40 metres was well within his compass, and was put in perspective by Sexton’s monstrous 50-metre effort to trim the Boks’ lead to 10-9 within four minutes before steering Ireland in front for the first time three minutes later with a difficult angled penalty from 40 metres-plus. In addition, the Boks outhalf also missed what for him was a routine drop goal within two minutes of the kick-off.

Perhaps Steyn was discommoded by the silence afforded him for place kicks on foreign fields, something some South Africans had to be educated in when Sexton was taking his kicks.

Furthermore, as Declan Kidney repeatedly reminded us afterwards, Steyn’s replacement, Ruan Pienaar, hit the upright with a 40 metre penalty a dozen minutes from time which would have put the Boks within a drop goal of victory when they inevitably laid siege late on.

One could also add in Tommy Bowe denying Jaque Fourie a certain try five minutes before the interval at a time when the Boks’ led 10-6 and their quick recycling and hard running were making Ireland’s defence look very thin out wide.

Against all of that, however, there were countless other incidents when the Springboks could have been more harshly penalised. For example, following Brian O’Driscoll’s line break near the end of the first quarter, Fourie du Preez both “fringed” and then lay over the ball after tackling Donncha O’Callaghan. BJ Botha persistently and with impunity scrummed illegally at an angle and was helped in this by Heinrich Brussow boring into Cian Healy as well, while Tendai Mtawarira once more was allowed to place his hand on the ground after the hit to help him get under John Hayes.

Amid the cheap shots there were none cheaper than Andries Bekker digging his knee into the back of a prostrate David Wallace. Though spotted by Chris White, and deemed “not acceptable” by Nigel Owens, incredibly, he wasn’t yellow-carded. Indeed, it should have been red.

Most blatant of all, of course, was the high tackle by JP Pietersen on Tommy Bowe inside the last 10 minutes and, from the ensuing recycle, Mtawarira should have been penalised as a lazy runner who just happened to obstruct Brian O’Driscoll off the ball.

Owens spotted many things and tried to be as vigilant as he could, but he couldn’t spot everything and, in the latter instances, the thought again occurred as to why touchjudges have been renamed assistant referees when they do so little assisting.

The other area of customary Springboks supremacy, the lineout, was decimated, which was a feather in the cap for Gert Smal. Despite being confined to his sickbed for much of the week, unsurprisingly the ex-Boks forward coach and his Ireland pack had done their homework. Donncha O’Callaghan, the mighty Paul O’Connell and Jamie Heaslip virtually stymied the world champions at source.

South Africa could have reacted better, either by opting for shortening lineouts or quickening them up, whereas Jerry Flannery’s darts and Ireland’s well-grooved lineouts worked like a dream.

What the Boks lost from reverting John Smit to hooker they gained in the scrum, but helped by the withdrawal of BJ Botha early in the second-half, the pressure there gradually eased on Ireland.

However, the key to it all was probably, once again, the breakdown. Keeping Brussow anonymous is impossible, and he orchestrated a collector’s item in earning a turnover penalty under the Boks post against the excellent David Wallace. Such is his ability to enter rucks from the side that part of Ireland’s game plan was to double-team him in the contact zone, which generally limited his impact. The work here of O’Connell, Heaslip, O’Driscoll and co was outstanding.

Even the two enforced replacements worked to Ireland’s advantage on the day. The introduction of Gordon D’Arcy, who had his best game of the season, gave Ireland some additional midfield momentum in a game of hard-won inches in contact, while the arrival of Seán O’Brien gave Ireland a second openside in the second half.

Of all these factors that had a tangible dividend as well, Sexton’s first penalty, against Burger, for playing the ball on the ground after another carry by David Wallace, emanated from his own offensive tackle over the gain line on Victor Matfield. Stephen Ferris was alert to the loose ruck ball, for Heaslip, Flannery and Tomás O’Leary to lead the break out.

The second was against Brussow for not coming through the gate, the third for Steyn’s high tackle on O’Driscoll after D’Arcy had carried hard from O’Leary’s quick-witted quick throw and the fourth for Bekker’s thuggery after good carries by Cian Healy, Flannery and Keith Earls. Hey, live by the sword, perish by the sword.

The clincher followed Earls’ kick and chase, Flannery’s follow-up tackle on Danie Rossouw and the penalty for holding on as O’Driscoll and O’Brien contested the ball brilliantly on their feet.

There remain areas that need progression, not least converting pressure into tries with some better options and more patience. Admittedly, Ireland had to commit more numbers to rucks to ensure possession was retained and, as ever against these Boks, they defended their line as if their lives depended on it and hence, as ever, Ireland had to work for all their points. They probably wouldn’t have it any other way.