Impressive Irish put South Africa to the sword
Ireland underlined their Rugby World Cup credentials by notching up a handsome 32-15 victory over South Africa at Lansdowne Road in Dublin on Saturday.
The margin did not flatter Ireland, who weathered an initial storm, and then produced phases of devastating running to blow away the South African resistance far more effectively than the wind that whipped into the tourists' faces during the conclusive first half.
It was a Test match for South Africa to commemorate 100 years playing in the Springbok jersey, but the Boks of yesteryear will surley be turning in their graves after the visitors appalling display.
South Africa never once had a stranglehold on the game that was marred by too many silly penalties, heaps of turnovers and ruined opportunities.
Not taking anything away from a superb Irish performance that left the former world champions scratching their heads for the majority of the match.
It was well noted in the build up to the match that this would not be the Boks strongest team ever, but if this was a test of South Africa's squad depth with the a Rugby World Cup just around the corner, Bok coach Jake White should have a lot to worry about.
The match started off well enough for the visitors, after some great running rugby off their first touch of the ball found them in the Ireland 22 and, better yet, a shot at goal.
After brilliant running off the ball from forwards and backs alike, Ireland's big number eight Denis Leamy was blown for hands in the ruck.
This must have been a relief to South Africa fly-half Andre Pretorius, who had fluffed a drop-goal attempt with an overlap shouting for the ball.
The No.10 struck the ball well enough for the gust of wind to bring the ball inside the left hand upright for the side's three points in as many minutes.
First blood to the Springboks, but it would be the first and the last time the visitors would score in that half.
With barely two minutes gone after the restart, Ireland came back strongly with an incredible burst into the Bok 22 that had the visitors scrambling back in defence.
Ireland fly-half Ronan 'O Gara popped the ball up to a flying Andrew Trimble off his left wing in the midfield, only for the young star to burst through two attempted tackles and score the first try of the match.
The pace and power of Trimble had the Lansdowne Road crowd standing on their feet, as the failed Bok defenders struggled to get back on theirs.
O'Gara made no mistake with the conversion and Ireland had an early four point lead.
South Africa certainly weren't deterred by the early five-pointer and carried on with their ambitious play, only to be let down by an unfortunate forward pass that had the Ireland defence on the ropes.
The Bok debutants certainly didn't have time to get themselves setteled into the fast pace of the game, and the nerves stood out on more than on one occasion from the influx of Ireland attacks.
Balls that were left to bounce when they should have been taken on the first attempt, caused unnecessary pressure on the new boys.
Passes that should have been made were instead kicked into the hands of the opposition who eventually punished them for their bad option taking.
A perfect example came when new Bok Bevin Fortuin kicked into the hands of Gordan D'Arcy, only for the giant centre to run back at the South Africans and earn his side a penalty for the South Africa big men not rolling away in the tackle.
O'Gara slotted the easy penalty to extend the lead for his team.
It was at this moment of the match that the floodgate opened for a barrage of Ireland attacks that left the Bok defence in sixes and sevens.
Not even Fortuin's high tackles could stop the electric pace of Trimble, who was once again involved in a superb attacking display for his country.
As the Bok midfield tried to contain the Ulster winger, Ireland scrum-half Peter Stringer spotted flank David Wallace floating unmarked on the touchline.
All Wallace had to do was catch the long, floating pass and use his speed to take him to the open tryline.
He did just that as he rounded off a superb try from some great vision from Stringer.
O'Gara was unfortunate not to nail the conversion as he had two attempts to do so.
The wind blew the ball off the kicking tee on the fly-half's first approach, only for O'Gara to try again with a drop-goal but to no avail.
Again the Irish were knocking on the South Africa's try-line door, but a shoddy pass resulted in Wallace failing to go over for his second after knocking on.
The visitors came close a few minutes later, after some well worked tactical kicking from Pretorius saw the Boks end up just five meters from the Ireland try-line.
The hosts were lucky not to be given a penalty try against them after countless offences on their line.
South Africa must have really been hoping for some luck of the Irish to come their way after yet another silly mistake in the ruck saw Ireland awarded with a penalty to clear their lines.
Amazingly enough, the Boks somehow found themselves scampering back again in defence as the Irish got used to the sloppy tackling from the visitors.
However, South Africa number eight Pierre Spies threw in the tackle of the game as he saved a certain try from none other than Trimble again.
The tackle set up a line-out five meters from the Bok line, but the big men failed to win their own throw and were forced to defend their line.
The Irish forwards made some good work from high quality ball and it took a stretched out arm from prop Marcus Horgan to dot the ball down on the stroke of half-time.
O'Gara made sure of the conversion and Ireland had a more than comfortable lead at half-time with the scoreline standing at 22-3.
The second half started well for the home team, just as they ended the first with the entire Ireland XV piling on the pressure.
The visitors match performance was clearly summed up after it took South Africa prop CJ van der Linde to clear the Bok tryline after the ball was turned over on an early Irish attack.
The second half wasn't nearly as close to the pace of the first and it took a good piece of work by flank Danie Rossouw in the Bok midfield to send wing Francois Steyn over to score on debut.
At last, South Africa had something to shout about, but Pretorius soon put that to rest after a sloppy conversion attempt.
O'Gara certainly didn't give the visitors much time to work on their comeback after nailing a beauty of a conversion from far out.
At 25-8, the game looked well done and dusted.
South Africa didn't seem to think so and the earlier try-scorer Steyn put in a wonderful pass to speed merchant Bryan Habana to race past two Ireland defenders for a brilliant touchdown.
With six minutes left on the clock, any hope of a miraculous Bok comeback was ruled out with another Ireland try to wing Shane Horgan in the corner.
That surley was the final nail in the Springbok coffin, or at least we thought so.
O'Gara rubbed the defeat in the Bok's noses by slotting another flawless kick on the right-hand touchline to end the match 32-15.
South Africa heads dropped as Ireland fans cheered their team on in what was a game full of Irish flair and heart.
Another reason the Irish could celebrate was the daunting number of records broken.
This included the highest winning margin, the most amount of tries scored and the biggest result scored against their southern hemisphere rivals.
Man of the Match: A couple of Ireland players can take a well earned bow for this one. In the forwards, Denis Leamy was outstanding with his brute strength on the charge, whilst Paul O'Connell was superb in the line-outs and in loose play. The backline were phenomenal all night, and the Ireland team owe their victory to tremendous play from scrum-half to full-back. But we agreed on giving the prize to centre Gordan D'Arcy for his wall-like defence and attacking flair that tore the Bok midfield in half.
Moment of the Match: It has to be Trimble's opening try in the first five minutes of the game that signaled big things to come for the rest of the Test match -- and it certainly did!
Villain of the Match: The whole Springbok team should earn a nomination for their uninspiring performance through the majority of the match. But otherwise no red or yellow cards were issued.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Trimble, Wallace, Horan, Horgan
Cons: O'Gara 3
Pens: O'Gara 2
For South Africa:
Tries: Steyn, Habana
Con: Pretorius
Pen: Pretorius
Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordan D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Neil Best, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Frankie Sheahan, 17 Bryan Young, 18 Malcolm O'Kelly, 19 Simon Easterby, 20 Isaac Boss, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Geordan Murphy.
South Africa: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Jaco Pretorius, 13 Bryan Habana, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Francois Steyn, 10 Andre’ Pretorius, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Danie Rossouw, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 Johan Ackermann, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Lawrence Sephaka.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 JP Pietersen.
Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match official: David Changleng (Scotland)
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