Ireland facing uphill task

South Africa 21 Ireland 14

South Africa have built up a seven-point lead mid-way through the second half with two unconverted tries.

The two sides were level on 11 points each on the restart. Ronan O'Gara gave Ireland the lead with a drop goal on 44 minutes, but South Africa upped the pace and responded with two tries.

The game didn't start well for the visitors. In the third minute, when it looked as if Ireland had turned the ball over, Os du Randt emerged with the ball and found flanker Schalk Burger in support.

He whisked the ball down the line to lock Bakkies Botha, who lumbered through a big gap, rolled out of Irish scrum-half Peter Stringer's tackle and forced his way over the line to score the opening try.

Even though it was not long before Ronan O'Gara slotted a penalty to get Ireland on the board, there were ominous signs as the Boks took one rumbling maul some 40 metres upfield before they were stopped.

Springbok full-back Gaffie du Toit added a penalty before a defensive mistake by Bok fly-half Jaco van der Westhuyzen allowed ample space for Brian O'Driscoll to round Marius Joubert and send away winger Shane Horgan for a simple try to level the scores.

Then O'Gara landed his second penalty to edge Ireland ahead 11-8 after 20 minutes.

However, South Africa hit back almost immediately with a converted penalty to level it on 11 each.