Bravo Ireland, you were indeed proper
Adramatic ending. But the right one. The best team on the night won. Even if it took an 81st minute drop goal.
This was my earlier recall of the game. “Shocker call to go for the penalty and three points on 35 minutes and give Ireland three points and give them back field position, despite being 10-6.”
This was my text message to SA Rugby Magazine editor Zelim Nel, with whom I do a weekly podcast. “Desperation stuff. We are 10-3 down. Keep them on their line and even if it does not work, we turn a converted try down.”
I added, in reference to Willie le Roux being concussed in the first 10 minutes: “I would have put Kriel at fullback, Sacha to flyhalf, Pollard to 12 and De Allende to 13. Sacha lost at 15.”
Zels’s response: “I like the call to take the points. If you go for the try on the basis that you don’t believe you can exit, you’re admitting you don’t have control of the contest. For me, Sacha [Feinburg-Mngomezulu] to 15. Next make 12 changes when you can make one.”
I know that these types of messages were being sent between millions in South Africa during the game.
Kudos to Ireland.
They came to play, to borrow from former Springboks coach Andre Markgraaff. It was his most sprouted sentence when I worked with him at the Springboks. The moment the opposition got stuck into the Boks, he would scream into the comms system: “They have come to play.”
Ireland, in Durban, came to play and there are times when you don’t lose a half, the opposition wins it. Ireland won the first 40 minutes to lead 16-6 at half time. They were exceptional in the contact, in their intensity and in their physicality.
Both Springbok locks Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert were bloodied and bowed within 15 minutes. Both left the field to be patched up. Mostert didn’t last five more minutes and Etzebeth, when he returned, was running on reputation and not performance.
The Irish came to play and that is why their supporters believe they are the best team in the world, despite never going past the World Cup quarterfinals. The Springboks will always have the four
World Cup titles, but the one thing they have failed in is to be consistent winners in between World Cups. If World Rugby was a league the Boks would never win it. They win knockout/play-off competitions.
Those first 40 minutes were incredibly disappointing from a Bok squad that has been together for six years, during which they have won two World Cups, a Rugby Championship and a British & Irish Lions tour. Consistency is what defines the greatest teams, not just World Cup winners. The Boks are not this.
Feinburg-Mngomezulu arrived in the second half and produced a fourty that was similar to Beauden Barrett inspiring the All Blacks come-from-behind win to beat England. Auckland had become Durban. Two replacement fullbacks had made the difference. Only, New Zealand had the result and the Boks did not.
Ireland was proper. Ireland won it more than the Boks lost it because Ireland
The Boks are the world champions and the World Cup winners. But in one-onone contests, Ireland are number one. It is not an opinion but a fact
chased everything until the 81st minute at the end of their season. Ireland were good enough. The Springboks weren’t. Jamie Osborne was sensational at fullback.
Ireland arrived in South Africa as No 2 in the world, but they left as joint No 1s. Respect to the Irish. You arrived in Durban.
The Boks have won the World Cup, but they have lost to Ireland in Dublin, in Paris and now in Durban. The Boks are the world champions and the World Cup winners. But in one-on-one contests, Ireland are number one. It is not an opinion but a fact.