Historic Victory - South Africa 20 Ireland 26

14-man Irish stun Boks with narrow victory

South Africa 20 Ireland 26

On a day when the rugby world shifted ever so slightly on its axis, Ireland created history with their first ever victory on South African soil. Success was made all the more delicious for having been achieved in the most improbable and dramatic of circumstances.

Given those circumstances, and given the number of front-line players missing, it must rank as Ireland’s greatest victory. Admittedly, the Springboks were rusty and rejigged and made countless errors. But any chance of such an outcome looked to have been removed after 20 minutes when CJ Stander was sent off for a high and dangerous challenge on Pat Lambie.

And 14 men became 13 when Robbie Henshaw was binned for another high tackle. But a combination of brilliant defence and opportunism in attack kept Ireland in the game.

Andy Farrell’s arrival as defence coach may have coincided with some ill-discipline but it has had hugely positive effects also — increased line-speed and some hugely effective gang-tackles.

Critically, Ireland also came to play some rugby and scored two excellent tries. While Paddy Jackson conceded one with an intercept pass, he was otherwise excellent, playing with a spirit and verve that set the tone.

To begin with, it was the Boks who struggled with their discipline, so keen were they to dominate physically. Whether it was Eben Etzebeth taking Devin Toner out in the air or Lood de Jager flying over the top of a ruck, Ireland had enough penalties to play the game in their opponents’ half, and they made that count with the game’s first try.

Marching orders: CJ Stander is shown red after just 22 minutes

Sensing they had an edge in the maul, they ignored a kickable penalty and went to the corner again. This time they threw long and off a quick release, Jared Payne got on the end of Luke Marshall’s dink into the end-zone. As Jackson was lining up the conversion, there was further good news for the tourists — De Jager was heading to the bin for attempting to collapse the maul.

But they needed a Henshaw intervention to prevent Willie le Roux’s offload causing real havoc. Still, Stander’s failure to release in the tackle allowed Lambie to kick the Boks off the mark.

Ireland responded with verve, first sending Keith Earls down the left, then testing the Boks up the middle. While the attack eventually petered out, referee Mathieu Raynal had spotted a high tackle by Damian De Allende on Jackson, allowing the fly-half to put Ireland 10-3 ahead.

Then came the game’s pivotal moment. Raynal’s rationale on Stander’s challenge was that he had made no genuine attempt to block Lambie’s chip and that the play was “highly dangerous”, and he showed Stander a red card.

The Boks looked to make their one-man advantage count immediately and it required some committed defence to hold them out, with Jackson and Jamie Heaslip making critical tackles in their own 22. The pressure did bring a penalty, however, converted by Elton Jantjies, who had replaced Lambie, and the pressure didn’t end there.

It was felt most keenly in the scrum, where Tendai Mtawarira was causing problems, as his opposite number Mike Ross had suggested he might. With Andrew Trimble now packing down at blind-side flanker, the Boks sought to make their extra back count — and did so, quite clinically.

Stretchered off: Pat Lambie received medical treatment after CJ Stander’s dangerous challenge

For the second time in the game, the team conceding a try also lost a man to the bin. For after Jantjies had sent blind-side wing Lwazi Mvovo over with a well-timed inside pass, he was taken out by a Henshaw hit that was both high and late. Again, the sight of Jantjies head whiplashing backwards left Raynal with little option but to produce a card, this one yellow.

Jantjies’ conversion put the Boks ahead for the first time in the game and with eight minutes before the break, they must have been banking on more. Instead, the visitors unfurled an old inside-ball play from the Schmidt catalogue, which set Jackson up for a drop-goal. His strike from 30 metres was perfect.

If this was resuscitating for Ireland, so too was their defence in the final minutes of the half — a classic corner-flagging tackle by Conor Murray on Duane Vermeulen, a cheeky piece of ball-stripping by Iain Henderson. When they forced Francois Louw into touch with the final play of the half, Ireland were still level.

With Henshaw back in the fold, they also managed to score first after the break. Quite a try it was, too. The key elements were Payne’s flick out the back to Trimble running down the right, then Rory Best’s appearance to keep the play alive, and then of course Murray’s determination to make the line. Running on an arc off the base of the ruck, he slipped De Jager’s grasp and just had the momentum and reach to get home.

From there, the memorable Irish moments were the havoc they caused in defence — Best making a nuisance of himself in the ruck, Toner popping up to secure loose ball. The Boks continued to get their wires crossed but mainly because of the pressure they were under.

Pieter-Steph du Toit gave them hope when he picked off Jackson’s pass only seconds after the fly-half had put Ireland 10 points clear. But the Ulsterman gave Ireland a hint of breathing room with his third penalty in the 77th minute. From there, Ireland’s stupendous defence saw them home. Terrific.

Star man: Luke Marshall (Ireland)

South Africa: Le Roux, Pieterse, Mapoe (Kriel 68min), De Allende, Mvovo; Lambie (Jantjies 24min), De Klerk (Paige 68min); Mtawarira (Nyakane 59min), Strauss (capt), Malherbe (Redelinghuys 77min); Etzebeth, De Jager (Du Toit 56min); Louw (Whiteley 56min), Kolisi, Vermeulen

Ireland: Payne; Trimble, Henshaw, Marshall, Earls (Gilroy 77min); Jackson, Murray; McGrath, Best (capt) (Cronin 70min), Ross (Furlong 59min), Toner, Henderson (Dillane 70min); Stander, Murphy (Ruddock 74min), Heaslip