Resilient Ireland fronted up and refused to take a backwards step

BREAKING THROUGH: Ireland's Josh van der Flier with Deon Fourie of South Africa. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

A foreboding groan rumbled around the Aviva’s three decks when news dropped that Tadhg Furlong wouldn’t be joining us for the second act. If this wasn’t quite finishing Hamlet without the Prince then it seemed like enough of a plot twist to make for an unwanted retelling.

Ireland’s backline was already resembling a patchwork quilt, stitched together on the fly as the steady haemorrhaging of players continued through the last few weeks and into the opening half. Now Big Tadhg was gone and the Bomb Squad had still to leave the opposition bench.

Ireland returned to the field after the interval with three of their best wingers and as many centres absent and with their starting scrum-half twiddling his thumbs on the bench.

The injured James Lowe, Keith Earls and Andrew Conway hadn’t even made the squad, Bundee Aki was serving a suspension and Robbie Henshaw’s loss in recent days had been compounded by the sight of the impressive Stuart McCloskey leaving with an arm in a makeshift sling before the half-hour.

Conor Murray’s 100th cap ended ten minutes later, the Munster veteran pulling a hammy as he broke off a lineout and deep into the South African 22. Andy Farrell had said during the week that his side would need to “adapt, adjust and … be your best on the back of it”.

Well, this was their chance.

Among those returning to the field for the second 40 were Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park, a full-back and a scrum-half playing their first rugby since the New Zealand tour. Jimmy O’Brien, who hadn’t started a game in the centre for Leinster in 18 months, had replaced McCloskey in the midfield.

Farrell had referenced the speed with which life comes at a squad during a World Cup. No-one needed reminding of the attrition rate that did for Ireland against Argentina in Cardiff seven years ago and who is to say they won’t be filling similar holes when they face the Boks or even Scotland in France next year?

Adversity comes in different guises.

Ireland had already attuned themselves to a Springbok challenge that was all oil compared to the All Blacks’ water a few months ago. The tourists brought aggression at the ruck and a frightening line speed in defence and Ireland had to give everything of themselves to withstand the buffeting through the opening half-hour.

They ended the half having committed seven handling errors, four ‘bad’ passes and three knock-ons and even the spell when Cheslin Kolbe spent ten minutes in the bin ended with the visitors ruing their inability to make more inroads on their side of the scoreboard.

Ghosts of France in Paris last spring, where Ireland had been muscled into defeat, were poised backstage. The Leinster spine to this Ireland team would have been forgiven for thoughts of losses to Saracens and La Rochelle with the Munster contingent all too familiar with the odd mauling by the bigger beasts.

South Africa drove them into reverse in the tackle at times but Ireland refused to be resigned to a day of backward steps and they broke the back of the Bok challenge with a ten-minute period either side of the break that started with a disallowed Dan Sheehan try and scores from Josh van der Flier and Mack Hansen.

The sneers will dismiss it as another meaningless ‘friendly’, and the strange thing about it is that its currency is limited by the victory, but a defeat here would have propagated the theory that Ireland can’t get it done against sides with this meaty DNA, filtering into a Six Nations in which France and England will visit Dublin.

Jacques Nienaber had stressed Ireland’s capabilities on both sides of the ball in the last week. Rassie Erasmus had sidestepped queries about his ‘softies’ remark of three years ago by peppering the hosts with praise for their added steel. It was those qualities, with a touch of their familiar attacking panache, that got them over the line.

Not all questions have been answered. It would be interesting to see how they would hold up if their pack suffered the sort of losses absorbed by the backline for this one, and they won’t face an elite team with an out-half playing as poorly as Damian Willemse all too often, but that’s all for another day.

This one was Ireland’s.