Ireland 24 South Africa 14
“We said we wanted to come out here and kill the party.” That was the insight from Ireland’s Billy Dardis seconds after his side upset South Africa on their own Cape Town patch in the Sevens World Cup quarter-final.
That they did as a rapturous crowd at the start of this one was silent 15 minutes later as Ireland booked a date with New Zealand for Sunday morning’s semi-final.
Ireland in truth got off to the worst possible start, Mark Roche overcooking the kick-off and gifting South Africa early possession on halfway.
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From there, though, Ireland’s attack was flawless. After earning the ball back inside their own 22, they didn’t surrender it for another 17 phases as a clinical display of keep-ball resulted in Roche atoning for his earlier error to open the scoring.
Ireland displayed a ruthless, clinical edge, working around the fringes of rucks as well as throwing the ball wide where a silky Terry Kennedy offload opened up a gap. South Africa recovered, but they had no answer for Ireland’s accuracy at the breakdown and when Jack Kelly’s cleanout metres from the line legally took out multiple defenders, Roche had an unencumbered path to the line.
They nearly doubled their lead seconds later, Andrew Smith thinking he had pounced on a Christie Grobbelaar handling error only for the TMO to spot an early tackle from the Leinsterman.
A South African riposte was inevitable, though they butchered multiple opportunities: Ronald Brown throwing the ball into the stand with a two-man overlap on the outside and Muller du Plessis getting pinged for double-movement after being hunted down by Jordan Conroy close to the line.
The scores were level at the break, an Irish lineout malfunction offering du Plessis a simple score as the defence could not realign quickly enough.
The lineout error was not a portend of things to come. On back-to-back plays, Harry McNulty disrupted South Africa’s set-piece. The second, inside the 22 after a booming touchfinder off the first, resulted in the big man himself going over two phases later.
Another South African error was punished as Matt McDonald scooped the ball deftly off the floor following a JC Pretorius spill, Conroy the man ultimately getting on the end of it to cut through and under the posts. He had a double moments later after another lengthy spell in possession led to Kennedy drawing the last man to put him through and the game to bed.
Siviwe Soyizwapi did notch a consolation score with the Irish defence spent, but by then the game was long gone and the crowd was long silenced.
Ireland have never beaten New Zealand before on the Sevens series. They have an opportunity to right that on Sunday morning at 11.35am Irish time.
New Zeland 28 Ireland 0
The last time these two sides met in a Sevens World Cup quarter-final, New Zealand thumped Ireland 45-0 in San Francisco in 2018. This time out in Cape Town on Saturday evening, Ireland showed glimpses of defensive prowess to limit the damage but were still outclassed as their wait for a maiden quarter-final win at this tournament goes on.
The wet conditions played their part to no end, Ireland dropping the opening kick-off albeit with no punishment as Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe showed off her pace to pull off a brilliant try-saving tackle on Michaele Blyde - who has a remarkable record of 23 tries in just 10 games against Ireland.
New Zealand did open the scoring moments later. Given the wet surface underfoot, they had plenty of joy cutting back inside on hard switch lines, sprawling Irish defenders unable to get sufficient stable footing to react to the change of direction quickly enough. So it proved for Niall Williams’ opener as she scooped up a loose pass off the deck before cutting back inside through two would-be tacklers.
The Black Ferns’ defence came into this game with four breakdown turnovers and their proficiency on the floor didn’t let up as Beibhinn Parsons was denied a trademark break from deep by a scrambling tackle before the jackal swooped before the support could arrive. That plus a Brittany Hogan spill prevented any real attacking opportunities in the first half, albeit Murphy Crowe once again hauled down Blyde with the line in her sights before Lucy Mulhall forced a spill with a crunching tackle to show some defensive grit.
The second half started well for Ireland as loose New Zealand handling saw them under pressure inside their own 22. Ireland forced a three vs two mismatch in their favour as they swarmed around the wide carrier only for the switch once again to prove their undoing, Portia Woodman the beneficiary of a perfectly-timed pass to speed off through the gap and score from distance.
14-0 turned 21-0 when, off a scrum, Shiray Kaka cut back inside yet again to make ground, staying off the floor long enough to send Alena Saili free with the offload.
If the previous three scores came from New Zealand exploiting the wet conditions, the final one after the hooter stemmed from pure defensive power. Ireland had worked their way into the 22 only for a strong counter-ruck to force the turnover. Kelly Brazier immediately sent the ball wide to space where Kaka had too much room as she raced past a disorganised line.
New Zealand progress to Sunday morning’s semi-final where they will meet France Ireland will take on Fiji at 9.40am to determine final tournament standing from fifth to eighth place.
