The Springboks and Ireland were at war at the Hollywoodbets Kingspark on Saturday with the Irish team dominating the early play and leading 16-06 at halftime, however, ill-discipline by the visitors led to Handre Pollard converting six penalties to help the Springboks lead 24-22 with minutes to play. A dropgoal by Ciaran Frawley after time was up secured a 25-24 win and a draw of the series for Ireland.
Ireland were the dominant side in the first five minutes of the match and a penalty conversion by Jack Crowley gave them a deserved 03-00 lead. Ireland continued to dominate with their physical attacks and captain Caelan Doris scored Ireland’s first try to extend their lead to 10-00 after fifteen minutes of play. The dominance by Ireland already left battle scars on the Springboks and after twenty minutes of play the Springboks lost Willie le Roux with a HIA, Eben Etzebeth was off for blood and Franco Mostert was clearly struggling to keep up.
Handre Pollard converted a penalty to reduce Ireland’s lead to 10-03 after twenty minutes of play. The Springboks slowly clawed their way back into the game and spent the most of the final ten minutes of the first half on the attack and added a Pollard converted penalty to their score, however Ireland almost immediately replied with two Jack Crowley penalties to extend their lead 16-06 at the halftime break.
Handre Pollard converted six penalties during the first twenty-five minutes of the second to the one by Ireland giving the Springboks a five-point lead with fifteen minutes to play in the second half.
The match became an aerial battle thereafter and a silly kick by the Springboks gifted Ciaran Frawley an easy dropgoal to reduce the Springboks' lead to two points and ten minutes to play. Ciaran Frawley converted a second penalty with time already up on the clock to secure a 25-24 win and secure a draw of the series.
Scorers:
Springboks: Penalties: Handré Pollard (8).
Ireland: Try: Caelan Doris. Conversion: Jack Crowley. Penalties: Jack Crowley (4). Drop Goals: Ciaran Frawley.
Teams:
Springboks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter. Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Caolin Blade. 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey.