By Jonathan Bowen
Questions were asked before the game whether the Irish rugby team had the capability and depth to deal with a physical and tough team. Keep in mind when Ireland played France early this year in the Six Nations, they struggled to contain the French team’s physical dominance during the game.
So, the opportunity to play South Africa would provide the perfect opportunity to test how far the team had developed since that loss. Given Ireland were able to defeat South Africa 19-16 with the injury issues the team currently face, the result provided an optimistic view that the team are progressing well towards next year’s World Cup.
There is still plenty of rugby to play between now and September next year when the World Cup starts, but the way Ireland were able to contain South Africa at the breakdowns, mauls and scrums, especially given the huge weight advantage that the Springboks had on Ireland, was the talking point of the game.
Both teams will feel they should have been more clinical with their points conversion rate. South Africa were missing their first and second choice No. 10 goalkickers and it showed with the fact they missed three attempts for points at the post, mind you Johnny Sexton did himself no favors by also missing two conversions.
On the positive side the Irish forward pack proved that they are a force to be reckoned with. The work they did and the tackle rate was the difference between the teams. Ireland made an incredible 154 tackles during the game, only missing 20 to South Africa’s 125 tackles, missing 20.
Johnny Sexton said during his post-match interview: “It was a real, proper test match. South Africa pressured you in ways that not many other teams do with their physicality and how they play the game.
“They’re tough to play against. We had a couple of opportunities we didn’t quite capitalize on, but we dug in there and showed great grit and determination. The pack really fronted up.
“We always front up. It’s just the intricacies of our game that can be exposed sometimes and probably not quite get it right. I suppose we didn’t play at our best but sometimes they don’t let you. They make things very difficult for you.
“They’re in our World Cup pool so we’re going to meet again in 12 months’ time at a neutral venue. We obviously had an amazing crowd here today, which always helps. So, at a neutral venue next time it will be one hell of a game.”
Next up for Ireland will be a Test match in Dublin this Saturday against Fiji. This will be a chance for Andy Farrell to test the full depth of his squad again when no doubt he will select a lot of fringe players to see how they front up, especially after the disappointing performance that the Ireland A team had against The All Black XV side.
South Africa’s next game will be in Cork on Friday night when the South Africa A team line up in another historic match against Munster. This game at Pairc Ui Chaoimh is a sell out and with Rassie Erasmus coming back to Cork, where he made his name as director of rugby before heading back to South Africa where he led the team to lift the 2019 World Cup, will no doubt be a highly passionate and vocal night.
In other rugby news the USA men’s rugby team kicked off its final world cup qualifying campaign in Dubai, UAE last weekend with a big win over Kenya 69-14. It was the result the USA would have wanted as they now have a tricky game this weekend against Hong Kong who lost to Portugal 42-14 in their first game.
Hong Kong is not a team to be taken lightly, they always play better when they have a game or two under their belt. I am optimistic though that the USA, after such a bright start, should be able to win the next two games of the qualifying tournament and take that final spot in the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.
The Hong Kong rugby sevens tournament returned to the seven series this year after a two-year hiatus because of Covid. It was great to see the tournament back on the schedule however Irish rugby legend and HSBC ambassador Brian O’Driscoll said the atmosphere was very flat due to China’s decision to not allow tourist into the country at this time.
The lack of atmosphere and attendance at did not take away from the quality of rugby offered at the tournament. The surprise winners this year were Australia. After losing one game during the group phase, they went on to defeat Ireland in the quarterfinals, France in the semi-final and Fiji in the final. This was an incredible result given Fiji’s historical success at the tournament.
A shout-out must go to the USA 7’s team who defeated Ireland in a 5th and 6th-placed playoff game, a result that surprised many. It will be interesting to see how the USA team progress on the seven series from here.