NO SHOW LIKE A JOE SHOW
Schmidt works his magic again as Ireland shake up world order
JUST sit back and savour the ambush. Eight months on from storming the Bastille to deliver a rare Six Nations title in Paris, sorcerer Joe Schmidt produced another emphatic show of alchemy, conjuring up a magnificent blueprint to out-box the Boks and shake up the established world order 10 months out from the 2015 World Cup.
On a day when England and Wales were swatted aside by the southern hemisphere giants they had welcomed into their lair, Schmidt’s Ireland showed their neighbours exactly what it takes to take out one of the touring big hitters – heart, relentless workrate, canny tactics and ultimately some beautifully crafted tries.
Swatting aside the build-up that had been dominated by pessimism surrounding the injury situation and the limited training window, the fact of the matter was that Ireland were still resourced by a strong central spine of the side that secured Six Nations glory back in March.
And despite having their best laid plan hit late on – Chris Henry succumbing pre-match to a virus, an illness that handed Rhys Ruddock just his second Test start – the home side exhibited tremendous first-half defensive bottle, putting manners on South Africa’s feared physicality, and they then confidently hit their stride on the resumption to race to what ultimately was a comfortable margin of victory.
As witnessed in 2009 when Jonathan Sexton, in only his second start, put the boot through South Africa at Croke Park, Ireland, in terms of growing their depth, have nothing to lose in gambling on the experimental midfield of Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne.
Ireland went into the game with two-thirds of a rejigged front row, Jack McGrath making just his third start and Sean Cronin finally starting his first Test since the 2011 World Cup.
McGrath, at the scrum, and Cronin, with his throwing, endured some moments of anxiety during the tensely-fought first half, but there was never a feeling they wouldn’t pull through this examination.
Ruddock, too, equally grew into the contest, but special mention must go to Henshaw, the 21-year-old about whom so much was expected, stepping into an Irish midfield no longer occupied by Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy.
Having learned his trade as provincial full-back last season before running the 13 channel in the opening few months this term, he had suddenly found himself shunted one position further in in his first proper Test start.
He readjusted to the role with savvy, as did new cap Jared Payne outside him, and their role in keeping Ireland’s defence solid during the first half was vital.
The opening narrative was how competitive Ireland were on the back foot in forcing a surfeit of turnovers, being efficient on rare attacks and ultimately being very good value for the 6-3 advantage they took with them into the interval – Sexton’s two penalties on nine and 24 minutes trumping one from Handre Pollard two minutes from the break.
However, Ireland really needed to stick it to the man for belief to flow that this would indeed be their evening. This they did with chutzpah, Ruddock scoring the game-changing opening try just one minute and 45 seconds after the resumption.
Tommy Bowe gambled intuitively. Gathering inside his own 22, he could have punted to touch and given the Boks a restarting lineout somewhere near halfway. However, without Test action since last November’s humdinger against New Zealand, the winger reminded us what he can do by punting a contestable kick and then racing forward to fetch it.
With that, Ireland probed left and Henshaw executed a lovely kick to the corner, follow-up pressure from the centre earning a lineout just metres out. Devin Toner fetched and Ruddock shunted though a gap in the maul to ground for the try converted by Sexton.
South Africa quickly launched their bench, but initial attempts to curb Ireland’s 13-3 lead lacked accuracy due to continued well-drilled home defence. Until the 57th minute that is. Handed a kickable penalty, the Boks went for the corner and after Victor Matfield collected, Marcell Coetzee bounded over off the resulting maul.
Pollard’s conversion reeled the margin back to the three-point gap it had been at the break, but the visitors couldn’t build on this riposte, Duane Vermeulen going high on Jamie Heaslip six minutes later and Sexton punishing the offence with aplomb.
Next, a great strip in the tackle by Henshaw put the skids on a Coetzee advance, and when replacement Adriaan Strauss rashly collided with the aerial Rob Kearney, the Boks went a player down with a 67th-minute yellow card.
That set the stage for Ireland to close out just their fifth win in 22 attempts against South Africa. They probed excellently, their initial pay-off being a Sexton penalty four minutes later after replacement prop Trevor Nyakane failed to heed ruck warnings from referee Romain Poite.
That gloriously wasn’t all, though. Sexton exploded off scrum ball, bursting past another replacement, Pat Lambie, and from the ensuing ruck Conor Murray’s vision was 20/20, his sublime box kick collected by Bowe for the try Sexton then converted to establish a handsome 16-point lead.
The Boks were busted, inviting Schmidt to clear his bench. Ian Madigan soon added a penalty and while JP Pietersen ran in an unconverted try, it couldn’t smudge the polish of this outstanding Irish ambush.