Kurt-Lee Arendse scored the Boks' first try against Ireland in Pretoria on Saturday. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The Springboks got their Incoming Series off to the best possible start with a 27-20 win over Ireland at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
The world champions made hard work of the game, taking advantage of some big Irish mistakes in the second half to secure the win, but they will be thrilled to have broken a three-match losing streak against them stretching back to 2016.
The Boks will now hope to build on this showing in the second match in Durban next week. But first here are five key takeaways from the match.
The Springboks showed off their new attacking flair from the get go as they set off down one wing on attack, before sending the ball back the other with Jesse Kriel and Siya Kolisi shifting the ball on for Kurt-Lee Arendse to fly down the line, step inside two defenders and go over for the opening few minutes.
It would set the tone for an interesting attacking display from the Boks, with them making a few decent breaks over the rest of the game.
However there is still plenty to work on as evidenced by the Boks making a few mistakes as they tried to keep the ball alive on a number of occasions.
Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard and Ireland flyhalf Jack Crowley both missed crucial kicks in the game that kept both their sides under pressure.
Pollard looked in good nick as he nailed his first three shots at goal, a conversion and two penalties, but all were from easy positions. He then proceeded to miss his next three, with two from positions he really should have nailed, which didn’t allow the Boks to get out of Ireland’s range.
Pollard did slot a touchline conversion to help push the Boks further ahead in the second half.
Crowley was also guilty, after slotting his first penalty he missed his second from an easy position, which likely influenced the next kickable penalty given to him, with them choosing the lineout. He also missed the conversion from their try, but that was a rough kick from the touchline. He did slot a conversion from in front towards the end, but missed a key touchline conversion as well.
New Zealand born Irish wing James Lowe was in the thick of the action throughout the match, making stunning contributions and huge mistakes. He helped his side convert a massively important score before halftime that brought them back into the game within striking range of the Boks, trailing 13-8 at the break.
Lowe looped around the ruck with their side on attack in the Boks’ 22m, getting the ball and then superbly keeping himself in play to offload to fullback debutant Jamie Osbourne to hold onto the ball and score.
He then thought he had scored first in the second half, but was overruled by the TMO, before he made two costly mistakes that led to Bok tries that sealed their loss.
Ireland thought they had scored first after halftime. James Lowe was again heavily involved making a fantastic run down the line after a counter ruck in their own half, but the TMO stepped in and ruled that there had been an infringement at the ruck with the score chalked off.
That allowed the Boks to crucially score first in the second half, allowing them to pull away on the scoreboard. Lowe for the third time was involved, keeping a penalty for touch from Pollard in play, which allowed Cheslin Kolbe following up to kick the ball ahead and score.
In the 50th minute the Boks threw all six of their bench forwards on, with Gerhard Steenekamp, Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, Salmaan Moerat, RG Snyman and Marco van Staden all coming on for Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert and Siya Kolisi.
They did not make an immediate impact, with their first scrum a penalty against them. But they made the winning contribution towards the end of the match, a huge scrum on Ireland’s 5m line that powered over, with the ref ruling it a penalty try.
That was during a frantic finish to the match that saw three tries scored in the final six minutes, with Ireland scoring two either side of the Boks’ penalty try, while a yellow card to each team was also given in that period.
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
