Ireland’s drop goal hero and a potential freeman of Skerries Ciarán Frawley managed to squeeze in “a few pints” before arriving for media duties. It’s fair to say that he shouldn’t have to do much buying when he returns home.
Two drop goals, the first on 69 minutes, the second before/after/during the hooter to signify the end of the match allowed Ireland to sneak a 25-24 win, square the series, and finish the season on a wonderful footing. Beating the double world champions after last week’s disappointment in Pretoria was a fitting redemption.
He admitted: “I’ve had a few pints, so I feel good. It was unreal the way it finished. It was a proper Test match. I’m absolutely delighted. There was a load of learnings coming to the end of last season that we brought in with us. We rehearsed those kinds of situations and look, delighted it came off.”
It was apposite that Frawley downed the Springboks with a drop goal. He’d missed one by inches in the final play of normal time in Leinster’s extra-time Champions Cup defeat to Toulouse.
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He continued: “Sometimes it can be instinctual, but you definitely see the picture. We got caught in that game of kick tennis and I felt the minutes were passing by. The lads put in a massive shift but there was a lot in the legs, and we just felt like field position was the right thing at the time.
“It was probably the 79th minute when we put the grubber kick through,” he said modestly. He made the half-break and pushed it through. Frawley continued: “It was an unbelievable kick/chase by Lowey [James Lowe], he puts him [Cheslin Kolbe] out Into touch, [and then] we get the chance for a drop goal.
“There were a lot of little things around it but I’d say there were a load of Irish fans holding their breath when the grubber kick went through, [saying], ‘what’s he doing kicking it away?’ We’re delighted it came off and the bounce of the ball went in our favour, and we’re delighted.’’
Frawley and Caolin Blade came on to replace the starting halfbacks Jack Crowley and Conor Murray, a vote of confidence from Andy Farrell and something to which the Ireland match winner alluded afterwards.
Frawley said: “I think Andy made very good decisions with his bench bringing the forwards on as well as giving a lot of energy to the team. The momentum swung when we got the yellow card, so decisions had to be made.
“When I came on, I felt like the vibe was good among the group and they dug in well. There were a lot of lads on there for 80 minutes and they put in a massive shift to get us that win.”
Was it the best moment of your career? “Yeah, definitely, definitely. Especially after Tottenham against Toulouse. I was delighted to see it go between the posts.”
Frawley explained the preamble to the final decision to go for the second drop goal, from 42 metres. “The clock was actually hard to find in the ground so myself and Caolin Blade were having a bit of a discussion.
“There was something going on before the lineout, so Bladey actually saw the clock was close to being in the red, and we put our heads together and said this lineout we’d work it, so a lot of credit to him for using the head.
“The strike was probably the ugliest drop goal I’ve ever hit in my life. The one in Tottenham was way better, which is funny. It worked out, which is key. Bladey pulled the trigger at the right time. They were probably expecting us to pick and go a little bit more and get better field position. I felt there was no pressure on me when I went for the drop goal.”
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell smiled as he tried to wrangle his emotions, but the smile didn’t require any words. “It was the sublime to the ridiculous, wasn’t it? It was a complete role reversal of last week. First half performance was not too great last week; this week, I thought it was outstanding, as good as it gets.
”But second half, last week was good, this week we’ve made enough mistakes to lose three games in that second half. But you just know when you’re hanging in there that there’s always going to be a chance with this team because of the guts, the bravery they’ve got, and they showed that in spades.”
Farrell was asked about Frawley’s guts to take on the winning kick. He said: “Well, let’s go through it. He kicked a ball out on the full-on a cross-field kick. To get his composure back (was tough) and then we delivered the play.
But you still need guts. He had the guts in the first place to score the first drop-goal and I thought it was immense how he had the courage to take it early, so fair play to him.”
South African coach Rassie Erasmus was gracious in defeat: “We can sit here with a sad face and think of excuses, but the best team won on the day. We’re really disappointed and the fans will be disappointed.
‘’But this was like the past four games we have played against them – all the margins have been less than one score – but the main concern was that first half. We fought back from a long way at halftime and converted when we had to but in that last minute, they were better than us.”
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