Ireland shock Boks in second Test to draw series 1-1: Five talking points

Ireland ended their international season on a massive high when they stunned the Springboks with a last gasp drop-goal to edge a thrilling encounter 25-24 in the second Test of the Incoming Series at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday night.

It was a fast start from the visitors that gave them a strong 16-6 lead at the break, before the Boks fought back to lead 24-19 with 16 minutes remaining, only for two drop-goals to break the hearts of over 50,000 fans.

It ends the series level at one-all after the Boks won the first Test 27-20 at Loftus Versfeld, with the third Test of the Incoming Series a one-off Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein next weekend.

Here are five talking points from the match in Durban on Saturday:

Early disruptions

The Springboks suffered a flurry of disruptions at the start of the match, which saw them lose two players permanently in the first 16 minutes. First Willie le Roux put in a poor tackle that ended with a head knock, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu coming on and staying after Le Roux failed the HIA.

Eben Etzebeth then went off with a nasty head gash for RG Snyman, and when he returned to the field 10 minutes later, Snyman stayed on permanently as Franco Mostert limped off with what seemed to be a foot injury. Those disruptions led to a slow start from the hosts.

Fast start for visitors

Ireland got off to a flying start to the match which helped them gain early ascendancy. Flyhalf Jack Crowley slotted a fifth minute penalty to give them a lead, followed by them scoring the first try of the match.

It came from a missed lineout from the Boks, giving Ireland possession in the hosts’ half, with them working play onto the Boks’ 22m line, where some great interplay saw them burst into the 22m area and scrumhalf Connor Murray finished off a converted score for a 10-0 lead after 14 minutes. With the flyhalves trading penalties the rest of the half the visitors led 16-6 at the break.

Breakdown, lineout and scrum dominance

The set pieces were shared by the sides as the Irish dominated the breakdown and lineout, while the Boks dominated the scrums. It was largely due to their superb work at the breakdown that the visitors were on top during the first half and took a comfortable lead into the break.

The hosts were also very shoddy at the lineout, losing a number of throws, but it was in the scrums where they shone, dominating over most of the match which earned numerous penalties for flyhalf Handre Pollard to slot which allowed the Boks to have the edge as the game wound down.

Kickers on point

In complete contrast to the opening Test, the goalkickers from both teams were superb on a busy night. Pollard overall had another average outing, but he was dead eye off the tee, slotting eight out of eight penalties, six of which came in the second half to put the Boks up 24-19 up after 64 minutes.

On the Irish front flyhalf Jack Crowley was solid slotting a conversion and three penalties in the first half, and another penalty in the second, while his replacement Ciaran Frawley was the match winner, slotting a top long range drop goal to bring Ireland within two points with 10 minutes to play and then stunned a packed Kings Park with the winning drop after the fulltime hooter.

Missed chances costly

The Boks will look back on a game where they had numerous chances to score but couldn’t get over the tryline which proved massively costly in the end. That included numerous 22m entries over the match, with them only managing to walk away with three points on a few occasions.

Their maul was repelled a couple of times from lineouts in the 22m area. Kwagga Smith made a superb charge down but instead of kicking the ball ahead he slowed down to pick it up which saw him reeled in.

A flat pass from Pollard to wing Cheslin Kolbe was knocked on, with space out wide, and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk tried an ill-advised grubber when the team was on attack which were the glaring missed opportunities.