Internationals - Ireland down Boks

Eurosport - Sat, 28 Nov 18:23:00 2009

Jonathan Sexton landed five penalties as Ireland maintained their unbeaten record in 2009 with a 15-10 victory over world champions South Africa at Croke Park in Dublin.

Ireland's Robert Kearney tries to get past South Africa's Wynand Olivier and JP Pietersen, REUTERS - 0

The Springboks scored the only try of the game in the first half through Schalk Burger, but Ireland enjoyed the lion's share of possession and territory to allow Sexton to land five kicks from seven on his first full start for Declan Kidney's side.

In a match billed as a showdown between the leading sides from the northern and southern Hemispheres, Ireland had to withstand a desperate late onslaught.

Although their defence was stretched to the limit they held on to make it three consecutive wins against the Tri-Nations champions when skipper Brian O'Driscoll made a crunching tackle with the final play of the game.

Ireland, who finish the year unbeaten after 11 games, made life difficult for the visitors from the first whistle with their back-row of Jamie Heaslip, David Wallace and Stephen Ferris dominating the breakdown and the remaining forwards producing an impressive display in the lineout and loose.

Man-of-the-match Rob Kearney had an afternoon to remember as he claimed high-ball after high-ball and rendered the South Africans' renowned kicking game mostly ineffective at a foggy Croke Park.

South Africa, who looked tired at the end of a European tour that has seen them lose to France - and their second-string to Premiership sides Saracens and Leicester - were unable to match Ireland's control up front and the pressure allowed Sexton to justify Kidney's decision to select him ahead of veteran Ronan O'Gara.

Sexton's display belied his international experience and the 24-year-old Leinster fly-half gave Ireland the lead in the ninth minute when the Boks were penalised after adventurous play by Heaslip and wing Keith Earls.

Ireland's lead was short-lived, however, as the Boks opted for a scrum and attacked down the short side before working Burger into space for the flanker to crash over.

Morne Steyn landed a decent conversion to put the Boks 7-3 ahead and despite Ireland dominating for long passages of the first quarter he extended the visitors' lead to 10-6 with his first penalty in the 27th minute.

Ireland's lineout was rock solid and after a rolling maul in the 20th minute Heinrich Brussow was penalised for not releasing in the tackle and Sexton made it 10-6 with another calm shot on goal.

South Africa produce a number of dangerous moments before the break, especially when Bryan Habana entered the line at speed, and they could have gone into the interval with a bigger lead had Steyn been successful with two long penalty attempts late in the half.

Ferrris was replaced by Sean O'Brien at the interval but it made little difference to the Ireland pack's dominance in the loose and lineout in the second half.

Steyn missed another shot at goal soon after the break and when he tackled O'Driscoll high in the 48th minute Sexton punished the offence with his third penalty.

Three minutes later a touch judge intervention for Andries Bekker dropping a knee on an Ireland forward - an offense he will surely be cited for - allowed Sexton to give Ireland the lead at 12-10.

Kearney continued to claim everything Steyn and his replacement Ruan Pienaar could throw at him and Ireland extended their lead to 15-10 in the 66th minute when Victor Matfield was penalised for not releasing after another scrappy Boks lineout.

Sexton had two chances to put the game beyond South Africa in the final 10 minutes but was off target with both, allowing the visitors a chance of claiming victory at the death when replacement Jean de Villiers and Victor Mtawarira both went close.

But Ireland produced a fearless rearguard effort in the closing minutes and made sure of victory when O'Driscoll made a clattering tackle on Jaque Fourie that led to an Ireland penalty.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport

Comment 35 - 54 of 54

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  1. Dont think "RobertGoodwin" is Irish so dont­ let him tar us all with the same brush.
    "the­ foreign office" only applies to less than a fifth­ of us so there is a chance that he may be. Why cant we­ be real men like Declan Kidney and accept the present­ situation with grace and manners?

    From domani, on Mon 30 Nov 1:59PM

  2. As a very proud Irish Rugby supporter, can I please­ ask Goodwin to get his head out of his rather­ oversized arse and wise up, for God,s sake man, it was­ a rugby match, it was not so long ago that certain­ people could have written the same about venturing into­ certain parts of our country get a life

    From frank-maguire, on Mon 30 Nov 1:31PM

  3. Well done Ireland. The Boks don't seem to travel­ well though. Ireland certainly favourites for 6N.­ Sexton has already proved that he should be first­ choice over O'Gara. Sorry Ronan but the sun is­ setting on an illustrious career. On the McCaw front,­ that was certainly another IRB farce. I don't know­ what the criteria was but if it involved being good but­ injured for half the seasson then McCaw wins. If it­ involves the highest achievement over the season then­ BOD wins. You can never tell with those tinkers at the­ IRB. It shouldn't be a surprise though, they have a­ history of merry japes. Remember the ELVs?

    From John L, on Mon 30 Nov 8:06AM

  4. Goodwin, you've shown yourself to be the scum here.­ Most saffers came on to this board to congratulate­ Ireland on their win, yet all you can do is throw­ pathetic insults about our our country. Falling back­ back on racial stereotypes - nice!! If that was true,­ Ireland would be a country full of drunks and­ kiddie-fiddlers which we know­ isn't........er......well, anyway, congratulations­ again.
    Remember, all you've done is beat us at­ home. Your record in the southern hemisphere is truly­ woeful, so until you can starting winning, or at least­ competing, down there then your crowing will come to­ nothing. You should enjoy your deserved win now, but­ the WC is in New Zealand next - the place where­ you've NEVER won a test.
    We all enjoy a bit of­ banter on these boards - but even by Irish standards­ you've taken it too far and exposed yourself as a­ bitter and twisted idiot.

    From Marc B, on Sun 29 Nov 7:58PM

  5. Well done Ireland, you deserved the Win, against the­ Springboks.
    I am absolutely dumbfounded at the­ political rehtoric from certain parties on here, Boer­ war, aparteid etc, I see that these very well educated­ fellows cannot even Spell 'APARTEID' properly,­ have never been out of their own country's and­ believe in their own Media fed @#$%.

    From steven n, on Sun 29 Nov 5:11PM

  6. Hey Goodwin whatever you call yourself. what has all­ your bad mouthing SA got to do with rugby? We would not­ want idiots like you to come to SA anyway!!!

    Well done­ to Ireland yesterday and I will be getting digs from my­ Irish husband until the Bokkes beat them again. The­ bokkes ran out of steam, no excuses

    From Megan, on Sun 29 Nov 5:03PM

  7. Well done Ireland! You will take some beating in the­ six nations

    From Jamie, on Sun 29 Nov 3:34PM

  8. 45 - if you are going to bring other fomrs of rugby­ such as 7's into it, then you are not the 7's­ world cup holders and also how are you at rugby league?­ loser.

    46 - yeah everyone wants to viwsit south­ africa - especially when the foreign office is telling­ people not to drive from cape town to johanessburg next­ year as it is too dangerous. what a scumbag country.

    From robertgoodwin99, on Sun 29 Nov 1:56PM

  9. robertgoodwin99,,, WHAT-A-LOAD-OF-RUBBISH-U-LOT!!!!!­ Why are you now bringing politics into the rugby­ equasion, you really are a DING-BAT!!! S.A. has always­ and will always be a great place for sport and the best­ place in the world to live and visit, we are proud of­ our BOKKE, so Mr robertgoodwin99,,, shut your CAKE-HOLE­ will you!!!

    From Can-U-Shut-up-please!, on Sun 29 Nov 12:42PM

  10. What a pethetic piece of @#$% is Robert­ Goodwin99.............................must be a Labour­ Party spin doctor.................full of­ irregularities, and­ vitriol.......................accept the 'World­ Champions' crown, accept the 'Tri-Nations'­ crown and accept the 'World Sevens' crown and­ shut up.....................dingbat

    From Bonzo Dog, on Sun 29 Nov 12:30PM
  11. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Jason N - what facts are they then? That you are not­ wanted anywhere? I was going to say even in your own­ country but you haven't even got one now that the­ blacks have rightfully taken it back. Oh and you still­ blub like children over how the nast british put your­ women and children in camps where they also were too­ @#$% to survive - you were too @#$% to win the war then­ and have now been seen off by the blacks. No one likes­ saffas. They are scumbags. What a pathetic race of­ people. You were all full of it in the summer and now­ all that mouthing off has come back to haunt you, you­ losers.

    From robertgoodwin99, on Sun 29 Nov 11:46AM

  12. Robert, you are a Pr...ck! Yes SA lost, they deserve­ it, get your facts straight before you start mouthing­ off. Well done Ireland, you deserve all the credit that­ is thrown your way. Definately the best team in 2009. I­ think the SA coach should start thinkng of new ways to­ start motivating his players, they looked pretty lack­ luster Saturday. Despite the long season, there are no­ excuses for a bad performance, penalties win matches­ unfortunatley.

    From jason N, on Sun 29 Nov 10:57AM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    If the saffas hadn't given so much mouth out when­ they were winning, people wouldn't take half as­ much delight now that they are losing. I for one will­ not stoop so low to laugh at the worlds biggest losers­ (boer war, apartheid etc, etc...). Well maybe just this­ once..........................HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA­ HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!)

    From robertgoodwin99, on Sun 29 Nov 9:26AM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    BOD complains to much, thats why he didnt win. Drop the­ mouth and we will talk.

    From Anthony, on Sun 29 Nov 6:11AM

  15. Delighted with the result, and well done, Deccers, for­ getting the IRB Coach of the World award. Brilliant you­ are, too. Shame about the Team and Player of the year­ awards, but I think we can live it. Now for the 6N,­ & the Heineken.

    From cgeos2, on Sun 29 Nov 12:39AM

  16. Well played the irish .I thought the ref had a good­ game today

    From alan, on Sun 29 Nov 12:33AM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    What-a-load-of-rubbish - you sure chose that name well!­ Didn't need to change much mind...

    Stop bringing­ us Saffers down mate - pompous winners is one thing,­ but we should never be accused of being poor losers.­ The Lions supporters have that title in the bag...

    From b_backwell, on Sun 29 Nov 12:06AM

  18. Well done Ireland. You did us and of course yourselves­ PROUD!! Pity about BOD not getting the IRB award but­ hey *@*% happens. But hey, we can handle that and­ I'm sure BOD can too.

    From Gregg B, on Sat 28 Nov 11:11PM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Ireland 15 - S.A. second team!!!

    From Can-U-Shut-up-please!, on Sat 28 Nov 10:59PM

  20. Yes marc b, injured for part of it and far from his­ best for another part.
    BOD has had a perfect year and­ was fit for all of it. HEC, Grand Slam (almost won it­ on his own), First NH side to go a year unbeaten.
    He­ was the best player in the world this year by a country­ mile!

    Tana umaga is on the committee.

    From Ads A, on Sat 28 Nov 10:32PM
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