IRELAND SEND OUT WARNING WITH RECORD BLITZ OF THE SPRINGBOKS
IRELAND struck a killer psychological blow with a record victory against the Springboks.
If the form book goes to plan, these sides will meet in the quarterfinals of the 2019 World Cup and, on this evidence, Ireland look a class apart.
The home side moved into a 9-0 lead thanks to three penalties from the reliable boot of Johnny Sexton.
A Conor Murray box kick then caused havoc in the 25th minute as Andrew Conway raced onto the loose ball to score his first Test try.
The visitors got points on the board when Elton Jantjies fired over a 44th-minute penalty.
Sexton soon restored his side’s 14-point cushion with his fourth penalty, before Rhys Ruddock, Rob Herring and Jacob Stockdale crossed for late tries.
Ireland flanker Sean O’Brien was playing in his 50th match and said: ‘The last 10 minutes with the scores — it flattered us a bit.
‘We work really hard to keep the ball and that was part of our plan today — to kick it up in the air and put as much pressure on them as possible and we got a few scraps and a few bounces of the ball, which went our way.
‘We have a lot of competition for places and it is a very healthy place to be.
‘We put a lot of work into this game and it has paid off today.’
Springboks flanker Francois Louw admitted the crushing defeat was ‘pretty much up there with the worst’ in their history.
‘We have not done what we wanted to achieve today,’ said Louw.
‘We were chasing the game early on, a bit of ill-discipline put the Irish on the scoreboard and to be fair to them, they took massive advantage of that.’