Ireland 21 South Africa 23:The width of a post denied Ireland the comfort of a draw on their homecoming tonight as South Africa played the party-poopers at the Aviva Stadium.
In truth, it would have been a result Declan Kidney’s side, who have now lost six on the trot, scarcely deserved as an error-strewn performance showed there is plenty to work on as this group build towards next year’s World Cup.
For 70 minutes, there was little to raise the spirits of the crowd on a cold and wet November evening. But at least the home side sent the crowd away with a pep in their step as a late rally threatened to deny the visitors.
Trailing by 14 points heading into the final quarter, the introduction of Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer changed the complexion of this contest. Stringer brought a much-needed urgency to Ireland’s play while the former engineered scores for Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney to haul Ireland right back into it but was unable to land the touchline conversion to snatch an unlikely draw.
There will be better nights at the new home of Irish rugby and there will need to be, for anyone considering parting with their hard-earned cash for the rest of this series won’t have been swayed by the spectacle served up to them for the first hour or so.
There were plenty of empty seats in the ground as the IRFU’s ill-conceived ticketing policy came back to haunt them. Instead of a stadium bursting at the seams, which the occasions demanded, there were vast swathes of empty seats to greet the teams.
The IRFU claimed it had just 2,500 seats to fill on Thursday, but there appeared to be at least double that number lying vacant as fans unwilling to stump up the asking price voted with their feet.
South Africa may have been the invited guests to as Ireland opened the doors to its new home but the visitors, with an arrogance and swagger they have failed to display in recent visits north of the Liffey, made themselves right at home before helping themselves to the contents of the fridge and threatening to make off with the best china.
Coming off the back of a dreadful Tri-Nations campaign, travelling without 13 players as injuries took their toll and with a coach teetering on the brink the world champions had rarely looked more vulnerable.
But self-pity is not a trait in plentiful supply on the high-veldt and, with the peerless Victor Matfield calling the shots, South Africa came out fighting. As Ireland failed to find any cohesion or direction to their play, the Springboks eased into the contest and virtually owned the ball for the first five minutes.
Morne Steyn had already missed with one speculative drop-goal attempt before kicking the penalty the Springbok pressure warranted after six minutes from in front of the posts
While Bakkies Botha, back after a seven-week suspension for his liberal use of the forehead, was playing the playground bully to perfection, Ireland lacked the physicality needed to get a foothold in the game with Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris the only two fronting up in the opening skirmishes.
The South African set-pieces were proving rock solid, but Ireland’s scrum creaked badly all evening while the lineout, so impressive 12 months ago, misfired horribly. And in a match pock-marked with individual errors, it came as little surprise that the opening try would come courtesy of an Irish mistake.
Rory Best failed to find his target from touch, and when Eoin Reddan collected the loose ball the scrumhalf took an age to assess his options before inexplicably popping the ball into the grateful arms of Juan Smith.
Not known for his pace, the backrow still had enough gas to outstrip a wrong-footed Irish defence and evade Kearney’s despairing tackle to slide home. By no means brilliant themselves, it was no more that the visitors deserved after a desperately poor opening quarter for the home side.
Jonathan Sexton, who saw his first effort slide right and wide moments earlier, finally got Ireland on the scoreboard after 27 minutes with a straightforward kick at goal before himself and Steyn swapped penalties as a low quality 40 minutes drew to a close.
Those hoping for an improvement after the break were out of luck as South Africa continued to punish sloppy Irish play. Steyn, uncharacteristically off target with an earlier effort, extended the lead to 10 points before Sexton hit back to keep Ireland in touch.
And with South Africa continuing to dominate possession, Gio Aplon struck the killer blow after Zane Kirchner showed the Irish defence the outside before performing a scissors with the fullback who ran unopposed to the line.
Cue the Irish fightback. With O’Gara, on for Sexton, showing there’s life in the old dog yet, Ireland finally began to find their direction. The Munster man sparked the revival with a deft chip over the top, onto which Bowe raced to score under the posts.
As South Afrcia wobbled, Heaslip then butchered a three-on-one overlap but from the resulting pressure O’Gara spotted Kearney lurking on the wing. Although Aplon batted down the floated pass, it still had enough on it to reach the fullback who skated over.
All that was needed was for O’Gara to knock over the touchline conversion. But the kick drifted on the wind, struck the upright and South Africa held on for a rare win over Kidney’s side in recent years.
Ireland will end their losing streak against Samoa next Saturday but for this series to be deemed a success, it demanded the scalp of one of the Tri-Nations powerhouses. Yet a first win over the All Blacks is as fanciful as ever, particularly on the evidence of tonight, and wins over Samoa and Argentina will merely serve to paper over some fairly worrying cracks.
For Kidney and his management team, there will be plenty of uncomfortable truths to face over the next few days.
Scoring sequence
6 mins:Steyn pen, 0-3; 16 mins:Smith try, Steyn con 0-10; 27 mins:Sexton pen 3-10; 37 mins:Steyn pen, 3-13; 40 mins:Sexton pen, 6-13; Half-time. 54 mins:Steyn pen 6-16; 56 mins:Sexton pen 56 9-16; 65 mins:Aplon try, Lambie con 9-23; 70 mins:Bowe try, O'Gara con 16-23; 75 mins:Kearney try 21-23. Full-time.
Ireland:Kearney; Bowe, B. O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Fitzgerald; Sexton, Reddan; Healy, Best, Buckley; O'Callaghan, M. O'Driscoll; Ferris, D. Wallace, Heaslip. Replacements:Earls for Kearney (75), O'Gara for Sexton (66), Stringer for Reddan (66), Court for Buckley (51), Ryan for M. O'Driscoll (63). Not Used:Cronin, Leamy.
South Africa:Aplon, Basson, Kirchner, de Villiers, Habana, M. Steyn, Pienaar, Mtawarira, B. du Plessis, J. du Plessis, Botha, Matfield, Stegmann, Smith, Spies. Replacements:Jacobs for de Villiers (67), Lambie for M. Steyn (61), van der Linde for J du Plessis (71), van der Merwe for Botha (71), Daniel for Stegmann (66).