Colm O’Donoghue | Contributing Writer
Joe Schmidt set his team up to lose yesterday’s game, focusing instead on beating Georgia and Australia so we could go into the Six Nations on a high. That was the nonsense spouted by rugby analyst turned conspiracy theorist George Hook in the pre-match build up. While most Irish rugby punters would have been fearful, the comment from Hook was almost insulting, and how lovely was it to see him eat his words after Ireland finished off a famous 29-15 victory over a strangely arrogant Springbok side.
Chris Henry’s absence was a shock. One of Ireland’s standout performers in the spring, the Ulsterman pulled out on match day due to a viral infection, adding to the already 16 strong injury list. Some had suggested Rhys Ruddock had deserved the start ahead of the recently returned Peter O’Mahony, and Henry’s absence paved the way for the Leinster man to get into the starting XV. He took his opportunity well. In the tackle, at the breakdown, and most importantly for Ireland, Ruddock was in control of the back of the maul to give Ireland a 13-3 lead shortly after half time.
The first half was a strange affair, Ireland in control for the first 20 minutes, scoring 6 points, before the Springboks began to turn the screw in the scrum and lineout. They owned the ball for the latter part of the first half yet finished with only 3 points to their account, youngster Handré Pollard missing from distance before three times declining kickable penalties to go for the lineout, and three times Ireland’s maul defence was superb.
With Brian O’Driscoll (I promise we will stop talking about him sometime) now retired, a lot of questions were asked about who would fill the 13 shirt beside O’Driscoll’s trusty sidekick, Gordon D’Arcy. Schmidt threw a curveball naming both the real contenders for the 13 shirt, Ulster’s Jared Payne and Connacht’s Robbie Henshaw, in his first XV, Henshaw at 12 and Cave at 13. How would this work? Payne has struggled at 13 for Ulster and Henshaw, only 21, has played very little rugby at 12. The result was very impressive. The Connachtman in particular was great, really physical when he needed to be and put through a beauty of a kick to set up Ruddock’s try. The sole dark spot on the game was the injury to Jared Payne, who limped off when the game was won with a suspected sprained foot.
Back came South Africa, again declining a kickable penalty to go to the corner, but this time the drive worked and Marcel Coetzee touched down. 13-10. Sexton pushed the lead to 6 points minutes later before the real twist in the match came. A high ball went up and as Rob Kearney went to claim, substitute hooker Adrian Strauss, cousin of Ireland’s Richardt, hit Kearney in the air. French referee Romain Poite, known to be a controversial character, chose to send the South African to the sin bin for 10 minutes. While this incident in isolation was probably not worthy of a yellow card, the persistent foul play by the men in green meant that the card was merited.
Man of the match Sexton, who was impeccable in all facets of the game, nailed another kick before Conor Murray found Ryle Nugent’s favourite winger, Tommy Bowe, with a wonderful pre planned kick to put the nail in South Africa’s coffin. 26-10, with 6 minutes left was an insurmountable lead. Madigan added a penalty before JP Pietersen ran in a consolation try for South Africa to cap off a memorable 29-15 win for the Irish.
This was a real statement game for Joe Schmidt and his team. The kiwi has long been regarded as one of the sharpest minds in the game, and this is another famous win to add to a CV already chock-full of them. To beat a team with the calibre of South Africa, fresh from ending the All Blacks’ winning streak, with an injury list like we had, is mind boggling.
Sexton may have been named man of the match, but any of Jack McGrath, Devin Toner, Paul O’Connell, Rhys Ruddock, Peter O’Mahony, Jamie Heaslip or Conor Murray could fairly have been given the honour. This was a real team performance, now let us hope that we can carry on and beat Georgia and Australia. And for god’s sake, no more injuries please.
