Springboks too strong for Ireland

South Africa 31 Ireland 17

Ireland’s quest for a first Test win in South Africa collapsed after a series of second-half mistakes handed their hosts victory.

Conditions were perfect with a cloudless sky on a cool winter’s day and the only late change to the teams was a positional one, with South Africa’s Jacques Cronje moving to number eight and Pedrie Wannenburg swopping to go into the flank position.

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.

Irish lock Malcolm O’Kelly was just stopped short of the line after a desperate tackle by scrum-half Fourie du Preez after the crowd bayed for an offside as he picked up the ball from a fallen maul, while Springbok number eight Jacques Cronje tried to dive over a heap of bodies at a ruck on the Irish tryline but was inches short of scoring.

Ireland lost winger Geordan Murphy on the half-hour to injury and he was replaced by Kevin Maggs as the winger limped off.

South Africa struck two quick blows through Irish mistakes to take a firm grip on the match and move into a 21-14 lead midway through the second half.

The Irish side moved into a 14-11 lead through an O’Gara drop-goal shortly after the interval but the Boks to hit back with two quick blows within five minutes.

First a lucky bounce of the ball turned the momentum as Van der Westhuyzen’s inside pass on the 22 went astray but was bobbled back into the hands of Jacques Cronje by an Irish player.

Cronje was stopped some five metres from the line but the ball was moved down the line and Wayne Julies used the angle to glide past the stretched defence to score.

And then Irish hooker Shane Byrne gifted the Boks with a try after he overthrew a three-man lineout on his own line straight into the hands of Botha, who was unstoppable from such a short range.

The Boks added another try to their tally to take the game further away from the Irish with possibly one of the most bizarre scrum tries of all time.

After getting a massive right shoulder on their opponents line, they steam-rollered the Irish scrum so quickly that not only did flanker Pedrie Wannenburg, who moved to the back of the scrum after Jacques Cronje left the field, fail to control the ball, but he lost his balance as well.

However, in the process, he knocked the ball forward with his body and laid a hand on it in the process as it touched the tryline.

Referee Tony Spreadbury referred the match to television official Nigel Owens who had no hesitation of awarding the try.

Du Toit, who had slotted only two from six before the conversion, suddenly found his form and slotted the sideline conversion to put the Boks 28-17 ahead.

Another penalty by Du Toit gave the Boks an unassailable 14-point lead, which they saw through until the end of the match, despite some passionate play by the tourists.

The Bok victory was dampened by a yellow card for a stiff arm tackle by flanker Schalk Burger Jnr, but it was not enough to stop the hosts from surging to victory.