No gain but no shame for Irish

There may have been a nagging suspicion that Ireland could have extended the Springboks further, but there was no shame in defeat. They had given it a good go, but ultimately class told. It usually does.

This wasn't the vintage, all singing, all dancing total rugby that the All Blacks brought to Lansdowne Road just over a year ago, but the Springboks's victories over the Celts on successive Saturdays did, in part, show how much the Celts have come on. Even when put to the sword, however, these Springboks have the defence and inner resolve to absorb pressure and then strike whenever the opposition's guard is down. One chance in the first-half, and seven points. Upping themselves a couple of gears and changing tack on the resumption, they struck for 17 points. Just like that. Thanks for the dance and goodnight. Game over.

The scoreline may have felt a little harsh on Ireland, and there'll be a feeling that they could, and perhaps should, have got closer. But then that's often the feeling after playing these Boks. They take their chances and prevent their opponents from taking most of theirs. Simple really.

Still, the capacity crowd went away reasonably well pleased. Undue expectations may be placed on Ireland, but in the heel of the hunt the Lansdowne Road faithful know what they're up against.

Against these world champions, they'd have settled for Ireland giving it a good lash and playing with a bit of purpose as well as the traditional spirit. They got that, and in the first-half especially they got a good deal more. Not only did the Irish show more hunger in that first-half, they were also the more disciplined side and made far fewer handling errors.

This Irish team can only play to their limitations. Nick Mallett was at pains not to be insulting when pointing out afterwards that Ireland don't have the backs out wide which the Springboks do (to which might be added the backs inside as well). Given that, Ireland had played to their strengths and done it well, he argued.

In terms of actually doing something with the ball and retaining it, Ireland have come on since last summer. Much of it is achieved through the target runners up front, the inspired Keith Wood, the in-form Peter Clohessy and the yardage hauler Victor Costello. Add to this the pacey Dion O'Cuinneagain and Andy Ward, whose work-rate and tackle count was again phenomenal. Underpinning all this was the general solidity of the set-pieces - though the scrum tweaked regularly on the loose side - with Malcolm O'Kelly excellent at lineouts and restarts. Taking it on, and taking it on again close to the breakdown. Playing to Ireland's strengths.

Halt-time came at a bad time for Ireland. Why, to begin with, they chose to take an acutely-angled penalty at goal rather than an attacking line-out remains a mystery; although a lead, however slender, would have given a significant psychological boost.

In any event, the force had been with Ireland up until that point. The statistics may show that the Springboks had marginally more of the ball. But so intense was the aggressive "in yer face" Irish defence around the fringes and in midfield (where Kevin Maggs was outstanding), that they forced the Springboks into all manner of handling errors and turnovers, while pinning them in their own half. Hence, Ireland spent 29 minutes in their opponents' half and only 12 minutes in their own.

Half-chances weren't taken - van der Westhuizen's hand trip denying the lightening quick O'Cuinneagain a promising one-on-one with Montgomery, Ward just failing to hold onto Conor McGuinness's off-load and O'Kelly failing to locate Justin Bishop with a skip pass. Elwood landed only three from six, whereas Percy Montgomery, admittedly from easier angles, landed five from five.

And even from their brief excursions upfield, the South Africans stole seven points. Bishop could be excused for trying to keep Joost van der Westhuizen's expert box kick infield, and not giving a red-cross pass to O'Shea. As with Wales and Scotland, Ireland were endeavouring to deny the Springboks a lineout platform in the opposition half, but as with Wales and Scotland, the ensuing turnover led to Johan Erasmus's try. You have to be well nigh perfect against these guys - otherwise they'll get you one way or the other.

Thus, rousing though the halftime reception was for the home side - you had to wonder how much psychological damage even trailing by a point had done them. Nevertheless, they still believed they had South Africa for the taking. Maybe that was part of the problem. The defence wasn't quite so much in the face after the break, as the Ireland fringe and midfield defence allowed the Springboks runners a little bit more space to run at them.

Meanwhile, in the opposition dressingroom, Mallett was changing tactics. "I was getting fed up with these long passes outside, dropped ball and turnover ball. They (Ireland) were playing a drift defence and I think that Eric Elwood wasn't their strongest defender so I said attack them there and then try to play off there."

The change in tack had devastating results. Suddenly the Springboks had moved up a couple of gears and Ireland couldn't clear the kick-off despite a couple of opportunities. After Montgomery's penalty, Honiball ran straight and off-loaded, the peerless support polished off with Bobby Skinstad's blinding step around Conor O'Shea.

If that didn't mark Skinstad out as a talent apart, his one-handed pick-up and pace from a backpedalling Irish scrum - with Honiball providing the link for a try from van der Westhuizen - certainly did.

Apparently, there is a reluctance to accept Skinstad - cited by O'Cuinneagain as the best athlete he has ever played rugby with - even amongst some of his Springboks' team-mates. For the last two games, therefore, Skinstad was under enormous pressure to justify Mallett's promotion of him ahead of Andre Venter. It made his match-winning exploits all the more praiseworthy, while one crunching tackle on Wood also dispelled some of the supposed doubts about his defence.

Eulogising over that one-handed pick-up, Mallett looked particularly well pleased with his number seven. "He's got the ability to just smash up any team. Unfortunately it requires that all the other seven forwards have to work harder because he gets into position off second phases. There's no-one back in South Africa better than him, apart from perhaps Pieter Rossouw, in broken play. So in order to get him into broken play, other guys have to do the hard work."

In almost an instant then - 17 points in five minutes - the game was up for a stunned Ireland. To re-group and come back, and actually win the remainder of the match by 7-3 was testimony to their progress in the last year. Remember the All Blacks's rout here a year ago?

Wood's try spoke volumes for the sheer spirit of the man. "Look, Wood is the best hooker in the world. It's as simple as that," acknowledged Mallett generously afterwards. "James Dalton may not like hearing that, but Wood blew through him and if he (Dalton) wants to be the best in the world, he can't let that happen."

Alas, the failure to score from six penalties and six minutes of sustained pressure inside the Springboks's 22 also betrayed an age-old Irish failing of becoming more panic-stricken the nearer the opposition line comes into view.

Scoring sequence: 16 mins: Elwood penalty 3-0; 29: Erasmus try, Montgomery conversion 3-7; 32: Elwood penalty 6-7; 43: Montgomery penalty 6-10; 45: Skinstad try, Montgomery conversion 6-17; 47: van der Westhuizen try, Montgomery convrsion 6-24; 50: Wood try, Elwood conversion 13-24; 59: Montgomery penalty 1327.

Ireland: C O'Shea (London Irish); J Bishop (London Irish), J Bell (Dungannon), K Maggs (Bath), G Dempsey (Terenure); E Elwood (Galwegians), C McGuinness (St Mary's); J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon), K Wood (Harlequins), P Clohessy (Young Munster), P Johns (Saracens capt), M O'Kelly (London Irish), D O'Cuinneagain (Sale), A Ward (Ballynahinch), V Costello (St Mary's). Replacements: J Davidson (Castres) for O'Kelly (55 mins), R Corrigan (Lansdowne) for Fitzpatrick (55 mins), R Nesdale (Newcastle) for Wood (81 mins).

South Africa (Province); S Terblanche (Boland), A Snyman (Blue Bulls), C Stewart (Western Province), P Roussouw (Western Province), H Honiball (Natal), J van der Westhuizen (Blue Bulls); R Kempson (Natal), J Dalton (Golden Lions), A Garvey (Natal), K Otto (Blue Bulls), M Andrews (Natal), J Erasmus (Free State), G Teichmann (Natal, capt), B Skinstad (Western Province). Replacements: N Drotske (Free State) for Dalton (12 mins), A Venter (Free State) for Andrews (51 mins), O Le Roux (Natal) for Kempson (51 mins).

Referee: C Thomas (Wales).