Ireland come back to sea level and down to earth with a bump against South Africa
The teams have come down to the shores of the Indian Ocean from the Highveld, dropping 1,700 metres in the process, with home head coach Allister Coetzee and his squad gathering all the momentum from a pulsating, see-saw second Test on Saturday.
If the first 120 minutes of this three-Test series belonged to Joe Schmidt’s Ireland following a first victory in South Africa nine days ago in Cape Town and a wonderfully managed first half at the weekend, the way Ireland wilted and the Springboks finally found their feet under the new management suggests that the remaining 80 minutes will see another piece of history elude the Irish the same way their grip was loosened on Saturday’s game by the Boks’ resurgent power allied to the rapidly tiring tourists. Four second-half tries, inspired by the introduction of man of the match Ruan Combrinck and a clutch of players from Johannesburg’s Super Rugby franchise, The Lions, united Springbok players and fans that had been at odds with one another at the interval. Paddy Jackson’s boot and a Devin Toner try, driven by the excellent diligence and intensity of their colleagues, sent Ireland in 19-3 up at the break as the sorry, error-laden Boks were booed off the pitch.
If the threat of a backlash had followed Ireland up from Newlands the previous week it arrived 40 minutes late, and accompanied by an alarming drop-off in performance levels and game management.
With Robbie Henshaw already ruled out of the third test with a knee injury and a set of replacements failing to make an impact on the second half the way Combrinck, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Warren Whiteley and Damien de Allende did, Schmidt could be entitled to feel that a series victory has already eluded his tired players.
He will need to freshen his match-day squad just as he felt the need to for the Ellis Park showdown, making five changes to his starting XV and another five to his bench. Not that he was thinking that Ireland’s chance has gone. Asked if he was fearful of this Saturday’s final Test being a game too far for players preparing for their 17th international of a near 12-month season, Schmidt replied: “I’m always fearful of lots of things. I think there’s always that potential but the one thing I would say is that in the end we had a six-point differential coming out of Newlands; they got a six-point differential today. It couldn’t be more all square.
“We’re going to take a little bit of confidence from that, particularly in the context of the enormous odds that were staked out against us even winning one Test.
“I’ve got to say I’m still incredibly proud of how hard the players worked, and maybe how hard they’ve worked in the last one and a half games reflected in that last half a game, and was starting to tell.
“We knew how tired some of our players were after Newlands. I think it was commented that we tried to keep the spine of the team together, but we knew we needed fresh blood. We knew we needed some freshness to give us an opportunity to keep our intensity up, and I thought we did it really well, especially for that first 40.”
The last 20, though, is when the damage was done. Jackson had missed a penalty kick either side of half time when Combrinck powered through his attempted tackle to start the Boks’ fightback. There was still the energy at altitude for an Irish driving lineout maul to get Jamie Heaslip over the line and restore their 16-point advantage on the hour, only for the tourists to fade in the face of some awesome South African power and an increasingly noisy and excited crowd of around 45,000 brought back onside by the home effort.
Irish tackles from players normally so resolute began to fall off as the long season seemed to finally catch up with them and fresh Springbok legs began to pump harder.
Likewise, decision-making that had been so sharp the previous week became a liability as Ireland kept handing the initiative back to the Boks, kicking away possession and inviting pressure back on their now ragged defence.
“I know that it’s not good enough, that last quarter,” Schmidt said, “but when you’re working with a team of five changes, the guys I thought linked up really well and they delivered against a very big team. I’m still really proud of what they’ve done so far but they’re really disappointed as am I and I think our supporters will be really disappointed, because how often do you get that opportunity to create a bit of history that as an individual team only the All Blacks have done?
“We’re pretty devastated because of the position we put ourselves in and we let it slip through our fingers,” said Schmidt.
The onus is on Ireland to somehow give themselves that rarest of sporting phenomena, a second chance.
W le Roux; JP Pietersen, L Mapoe, D de Allende, L Mvovo (R Combrink, h-t); E Jantjies (M Steyn, 60-63), F de Klerk; T Mtawarira (T Nyakane, 50), A Strauss, capt, F Malherbe (J Redelinghuys, 46); E Etzebeth, P-S du Toit; F Louw, S Kolisi (F Mostert, 67), D Vermeulen (W Whiteley, half-time).
J Payne (T O’Halloran, 76); A Trimble, R Henshaw (I Madigan, 76), S Olding, C Gilroy; P Jackson, C Murray (K Marmion, 77); J McGrath (D Kilcoyne, 65), R Best, captain (R Strauss, 65), T Furlong (F Bealham, 60); D Toner, Q Roux (D Ryan, 51), D Toner; I Henderson (S Reidy, 70), R Ruddock (S Reidy, 43-50), J Heaslip.
Angus Gardner (Australia)
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