Ireland 15 Springboks 10
Keo.co.za brought you live commentary from the Boks’ last European Tour Test at Croke Park.
80 mins: The Boks attempt a set-piece move towards the left side of the field, but Ireland hold on. After three phases, Rossouw is penalised for an illegal clearance at the ruck, handing Ireland a hard-fought victory. Ireland win 15-10!
79 mins: With two minutes left, O’Learly kicks possession away and gives the Boks another opportunity. The visitors run the ball into Ireland’s 22 and find themselves 5m from the try line. Ireland, however, defend strongly and the Boks are awarded a scrum.
78 mins: The Boks spend a good period in the Irish half, but they fail to put an effective attack together. With two minutes left, Jean de Villiers is pushed into touch. That could prove to be the Boks’ last opportunity to steal victory.
68 mins: Pienaar gets his first opportunity at goal, but his kick hits the post.
66 mins: Sexton kicks Ireland into a five-point lead with his fifth penalty of the game. 15-10 to Ireland!
64 mins: Peter de Villiers has decided to run the changes. He brings on four fresh players within two minutes, which sees Ruan Pienaar at pivot and Bismarck du Plessis at hooker and John Smit moved to tighthead.
60 mins: The Boks’ ill-discipline is preventing them from building momentum and allowing Ireland to play most of the match in their half.
50 mins: The touch judge calls for a penalty, saying he spotted Andries Bekker dropping his knee on a Irish player at the ruck. Sexton then kicks Ireland into the lead. 12-10 to Ireland!
48 mins: Steyn is penalised for a high tackle on O’Driscoll. This allows Sexton to kick over his third penalty. 10-9 to the Boks!
44 mins: The Boks’ dominance at the scrums continues as they are awarded an early penalty after the break, but Steyn uncharacteristically misses his third successive kick. Only four points ahead, this could prove costly.
Half-time: Ireland 6 Springboks 10
39 mins: Ireland are penalised again, this time 60m from the posts. Steyn attempts another ambitious kick, but fails to reach his target again. O’Leary clears the ball and Owens blows for half-time.
38 mins: Du Preez is pushed off the ball by O’Driscoll while the two players try to claim an up and under, which gives Steyn a chance to convert a long-range three-pointer. The Bok flyhalf’s attempt, however, misses the target by inches as the ball falls short.
29 mins: Brussow makes a good steal, but Owens penalises the flank, saying he was in an offside position. Sexton reduces the deficit to four points, with another fine strike. 10-6 to the Boks!
24 mins: Boks build momentum and find themselves back inside Ireland’s half. From a breakdown at the 22, Steyn slots his second drop goal attempt. 10-3 to the Boks!
21 mins: Outstanding defence from the Boks keep Ireland out after several attempts from 5m out, but the home side is penalised for holding on. A big turning point in the game as Boks look fired up after their strong defensive efforts.
19 mins: A trademark Brian O’Driscoll break creates a try-scoring opportunity for the home side. Ireland work themselves 5m out from the try line, but a strong defence from the visitors restricts Ireland from crossing the chalk, which results in a Irish scrum.
16 mins: Springbok try! Ireland are penalised after being driven back in the scrum in a kickable position, but Fourie du Preez opts for a quick tap. The scrumhalf almost makes the hash of things, but the Boks keep momentum. After the third breakdown, the ball is passed wide and Jaque Fourie puts Schalk Burger through the gap for the opening try. Steyn converts for the extras. 7-3 to the Boks!
14 mins: After four scrums, Boks have the clear upper hand.
8 mins: Ireland have the first opportunity to score points as the Boks are penalised at the breakdown in a kickable position. Pivot Jonathan Sexton successfully kicks his first attempt over from 45m out. 3-0 to Ireland!
4 mins: An early bust up between Heinrich Brussow and Rob Kearney makes it clear that this is a passionate clash. Referee Nigel Owens, however, forces his hand, saying he will not tolerate any further action off the ball.
2 mins: Ireland run the ball from the lineout, but good defence from the Boks forces the home side to lose the ball forward. This sets up a promising counter attack and Steyn attempts an early drop goal, but the kick is pulled wide.
1 min: Morne Steyn kicks off and Ireland claim possession. No 9 Tomas O’Leary clears from the base, but John Smit charged down the kick and the ball goes into touch.
Ireland – 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O’Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O’Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O’Connell, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Cian Healy.
Subs: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Sean O’Brien, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Ronan O’Gara, 22 Gordon D’Arcy.
Springboks – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Danie Rossouw, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Andries Bekker, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Jean Deysel, 19 Dewald Potgieter, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Jean de Villiers, 22 Francios Hougaard.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Damn…. well played Irish.
Enjoy the holiday Boks! You certainly need it lol
November 28th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
What the f*ck was that? Are you kidding me?
November 28th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Well done Ireland.
The one thing I hate about our team is just like England we seem to have very many ungracious and arrogant fans.
It was a mistake to BJ Botha off the field. John Smit’s throwing in was terrible.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
The heroes of our SH season, FdP and M Steyn, cost us our NH tour.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Morne Steyn 1/10
November 28th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
The travel is exactly the same for everyone. You do the math and you will find that Europe is closer to RSA than Australasia via Hong Kong.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Thanks to the Paddies, NZ no 1 all summer long.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Bismark rating 0.5/10
De villiers is a ****** for taking Smit
November 28th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
too much rugby for the key players. No New Zealander played in a S14 final, British and Irish Lions series, and then a domestic final altogether> I am talking about players such as Matfield, Du Preez, Bakkies, Habana, Morne Steyn, and then no Pierre Spies. Key players not firing due to too much good rugby in one year. But hats off to Ireland, they played very well and took their chances. definitely not better than the Boks, that is for sure. I would much rather lose to Ireland, than lose the BIL.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
NZ to lose to France.
Dont count your chickens
November 28th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
@savethespringbok: Yeah … that is the bottom line. Our players are knackered.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
For moving Smit to 3 I mean
November 28th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
We can`t beat Ireland or France away from home. This has been a fact for a few seasons now. In general, we strugggle to beat any side away from home. We do not have a great team. The up-and-under rubbish worked in the SH but not in the NH where those guys are used to this kind of play. We need to change our game plan promply because this **** is not going to work next year against the AB`s and Aus either. We lose to Ireland FFS.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Dont think too much rugby is a good excuse. It’s there job!
November 28th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
There was talk a few years back of the boks joining the six nations, maybe you guys should Italy need someone to battle for the wooden spoon haha
November 28th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Steyn ).03/10
Du Preez 1.5/10
Tactics 0/10
Meisiekind -9/10
November 28th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
That was the worst Bok performance I’ve seen this team perform since 2007.
drop the lot, styart again
Smit – ous
Matfield – ous
CJ – ous
Roussouw – ous
Burger – hang in by your finger nails.
Fdp – M.Steyn drop them get some proper half backs that know how the f’ck to get a back line working.. those two palooka’s lost this game with every up and under kick they could muster. Slow useless service. get rid of those two overrated hasbeens
Start again.. get a new captain.. should be Watson.. and get shot of this bunch of overrated useless idiots. the lot of them.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
@WP_:
Even if we lose it won’t matter for the rankings.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Even the useless Aussies are better travellers than our palookas. Bloody useless headless chickens.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Well done the Oirish! Bad luck Boks but I guess this as on the cards.
So it was all Kanko’s fault? He wasn’t playing today.
Where the Boks went wrong:
Kirschwasser 0 – Frans 10 no comparison. Strange they didn’t call on Frans as Zane is out of his element and league.
Dannie 0 – Spies 5 – Kanko 10. In soft underfoot Kanko is far better than these tow. Not even debatable.
Schalk, scored 1 try otherwise not on the field. 1 point. Why didn’t they put on Deysel???
Bekker 0 – Bakkies 10 – Was bekker on the field? No line takes (and that’s his strong point!). Otherwise totally anonymous.
And the best part:
M Steyn shows he is no where near international standard. Last week, ah it was the ball…. I guess he’s best bet is to play Gridiron where he can kick and then leave the field. It was awsemome how the Boks had ‘go forward’ when Ruan came on. Almost won the match against all odds. M. Steyn should only play in the SH. He simply is not up to scratch in conditions other than dry. Probably missed more conversions, drops and line kicks on the winter tour than anyone before him.
Biggest problem is that with FDP, MS and JF JPP is never going to see the ball. They cannot play to the right.
Big plus is that maybe Adi and Kanko are not that bad and that Bulls/WP players are not as good as their fans would want to believe?
November 28th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Sorry Lads,our game is far too one dimensional.Backline play
non existent.Tactical kicking and goal kicking not up to
scratch.
Once Steyn started missing penalty kicks, the Boks had nothing else to offer.So who and what is to blame.
Firstly very poor selections and even poorer coaching
because it all starts up front in the front row.
Because kicking plays such a vital role and once Steyn went of
the boil there was no back up goal kicker.Again poor selection. Why was Frans Steyn not called to play in this
vital match? He has shown that he can kick long range penalties. Kirchner had a good game but must be able
to take kicking over if fly half misses too many.
Why on earth resort to deep kick offs if no forward is able
to contest.Once again with the upper hand in the scrum our
loose forwards dont keep on scrumming and put the opposition
under pressure.To rely on Brussow’s solo efforts at the
breakdown is ludicrous.Far too many individual efforts.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Drop FdP and M. Steyn that is where the cancer starts and ends.
Useless bunch of no hope half backs that know only one thing, boot to leather sweet f’all else. Kak sleg palooka rugby players the both of them. killed the game dead. idiots.
Start again.
get shot of the dead wood.. start again. Do it now or have 2 more years of snot n trane
Get shot of rubbish overrated players all of them.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
@skopskiet:
I agree with FDP/MS but what about Bekker? He was as useless as a pig at a Barmitzvah. Same goes for Burger. there on past exploits. He isn’t delivering. Scrub them both.
Houghard on the bench? Worst showing of any Bok in my recollection – why was he there?
The front row was great. The rest abysmal. Just shows that one needs brains for go forward. Not brawn.
No problem with FDP getting enough ball, just shows his limitations as well as Rousouws supposed ‘genius’ in the back line.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
This year we proved that we can win the 3N and that we can dominate NZ. I think that in 2010 we should have a rotation policy to build our depth and manage our top players.
We must also be smarter and more adaptable. Today there was very little of PdV’s total rugby – we were stuck in a rut and did not adapt to the game.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
You can only play as well as the opposition allow.
And to be fair lads, this is a VERY good Irish team. Well coached and full of leaders.
Lets just bite the bullet and accept that we were outplayed.
The days of Ireland being a **** team are LONG gone.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
@TaffyIX:
Thats an expression losers use to console each other after defeat. Ireland aren’t anything great, New Zealand would have ran them over today.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
@AiDoc:
There is a total of more games in the Super 14 and Tri-Nations that SA travel more. The end-of-year tours for NZ and Australia make up some of the ground, but not all. SA still travel more than NZ and Australia and the difference remains significant.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
For SA, the end-of-year tour should be used purely for introducing new talent to international rugby, with just a back-bone of experienced players.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
220. skopskiet
No FDP got very slow ball and with Ireland on the off side
line and pack not taking ball forward our 9 and 10 were
always going to be under pressure.
We have to adopt the All Blacks play and keep on driving the opposition backwards and control the ball in the pick and drive.The All Blacks did that very successful against the
heavy English pack.
The problem with South African rugby, far too many forwards
in the backline obstructing our backs.Ireland just were
more organised.Remember the Boks missed at least 12 points
in penalty kicks and needed only two to secure victory.
Now this was not a last minute arranged tour, so why were
the European rugby balls not flown in so that our kickers
could get used to them?
November 28th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
@WP_: That’s simple, one-dimensional thinking
November 28th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
This was an ideal opportunity for players like Earl Rose, Ashley Johnson and jonke Nokwe to stake their claim.At least they would have given it their all.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
@sglazer:
We have just been to Tokyo, Cardiff back to Italy over to England and now back to France and they still haven’t breached our try line, perhaps you just weren’t good enough on this tour thats why you have been beaten 4 times in 5 matches.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
@NZINCHINA:
sad but true
November 28th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Ireland is sh_t and the All Blacks would have crushed them today
November 28th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
@NZINCHINA:
The travel is uneven. NZ travel less than SA. That’s why the Boks were tired on tour.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
@NZINCHINA:
True
I think the All blacks will once again be the team to beat next year.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
@sglazer:
What an excuse?
November 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
tactics were awful. Ref pathetic.
Schalk had a good game. Bismark was atrocious when he came on, rubbish sub
November 28th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
South Africa need to blood new players and fast as they risk making the same mistake Australia made post 91
November 28th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
@rugby lover:
It’s an excuse when it’s a reflection of reality. SA travel more. They do. The leading players were tired on this tour.
Selections should have covered for this fact. In my opinion, we should be using the end-of-year tour to blood new players.
Unfortunately our administrators are slow and unclear.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
@WP_:
I thought the ref did quite well.
Rather two calls from the touches that were a bit dubious.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
It’s not an excuse when it’s a reflection of reality …
November 28th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Anyone could see the Boks were slow today. The leading players are tired.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
@sglazer:
I really agree with blooding the new players.
The results could not have been worse in any case.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Bok team to go forward
Vd Merwe, Beast
Liebenberg, Strauss
BJ, WP Nel, K.Buys
Sykes, Steenkamp
Bekker, Matfield
Brussow, Potgieter
Louw, Deysel
Vermeulen, Alberts
S. Pretorius
Pienaar
Habana
De Jongh
Fourie
Mapoe
Viljoen, F.Steyn
get shot of dead wood, do it.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
No rugby lover.
The ref missed a whole lot. The majority of it went against the Boks
November 28th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
@NZINCHINA:
You have to look at the whole year, not just the end-of-year tours
November 28th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
The AB`s see these tours as a mission to strengthen their rugby dominance over the NH. Our guys see it as a burden. This is the difference between us and them. We have lost our aura.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
@Springbokvel:
They travel less. Our leading players are tired. Our management does not adjust for this.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!
Good game boys, this is probably the best time in Irish Rugby history. Good to see the players hugging it out at the end as well.