South Africa 20-26 Ireland: Joe Schmidt's men overcome Springboks despite playing an hour with 14 men - Ruck
BATH, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 31: Chris Robshaw of Harlequins in action during the Aviva Premiership Match between Bath Rugby and Harlequins at The Recreation Ground on October 31, 2015 in Bath, England. (Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images)
Rugby News

South Africa 20-26 Ireland: Joe Schmidt’s men overcome Springboks despite playing an hour with 14 men

11 June 2016
Rugby Rucker
  • Ireland overcame South Africa 26-20 despite playing an hour with 14 men
  • The Irish made an assured start but the dismissal of local boy CJ Stander was the main talking part at half-time with the nation’s level 13-13
  • Conor Murray’s try combined with Paddy Jackson’s boot secured Ireland the memorable win
A heroic defensive effort propelled Ireland to a first-ever win in South Africa by 26-20, despite a red card in the first half to CJ Stander.

Jared Payne’s try helped Ireland lead 7-0 and they were 10-3 ahead with South African-born Stander was sent off for a high challenge on Patrick Lambie.

Lwazi Mvovo’s score saw the Springboks edge ahead as Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw was also sin-binned.

But Conor Murray’s second-half try and eight Paddy Jackson points were enough despite Pieter-Steph du Toit’s try.

MATCHACTION

After a competitive first ten minutes fullback Jared Payne got on the end of Luke Mashall’s brilliant kick to race over the whitewash to open the scoring for Ireland. After a trip to the TMO, the Boks Lood de Jager was yellow carded for an infringement before the try was awarded. Paddy Jackson then converted to open up a seven-point lead for the tourists.

Pat Lambie responded for the hosts from the tee after five minutes to score the first points of Allister Coetzee‘s reign as Springbok chief.

Ireland though reestablished their seven-point lead when Jackson sent over a penalty, 3-10.

But soon after South African-born Ireland flanker CJ Stander was sent off for a poor attempt to charge down the ball, which saw his hip knock seven bells out of Pat Lambie. The Springbok fly-half was stretchered off while Stander maybe harshly saw red.

Elton Jantjies replaced Lambie and didn’t take long to narrow the gap as he slotted a penalty after 25 minutes, 6-10.

Things then went from bad to worse for Joe Schmidt’s side as from a scrum the Boks moved the ball right before Jantjies pass to Mvovo inside saw the winger race in for the hosts opening try. Jantjies converted after Robbie Henshaw was shown a yellow card for putting in a high tackle on the number 10 in the build-up to the try. The Irish were now two men down and 13-10 behind after 33 minutes.

However, Ireland was able to go into the break level after Jackson sent over a drop-goal late in the half, 13-13.

After the break, Ireland continued to battle with Murray scoring for the visitors just two minutes after the restart. It started with a Payne, who offloaded to Andrew Trimble and ended with the scrum-half bursting through the tackle of Eben Etzebeth to dive over the whitewash. Jackson then converted to give Ireland a seven-point lead.

Jackson slotted a penalty ofter 68 minutes to edge Ireland further ahead but a misplaced pass from the fly-half off the restart was intercepted by Boks Pieter-Stef du Toit, who dived over unchallenged between the posts. The conversion from Jantjies good, 20-23.

The Ireland fly-half Jackson recovered from his error amd kicked another penalty to edge the men in green six points clear with three minutes to go and through relentless defending they held on for the unlikely 26-20 victory.

MANOFTHEMATCH

PADDY JACKSON

LINE UPS

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Ireland: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 CJ Stander, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Mike Ross, Rory Best (c), 1 Jack McGrath.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Finlay Bealham, 18 Tadgh Furlong, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Craig Gilroy.

Date: Saturday, June 11
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 17:00 local (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Matthew Carley (England)