Ireland suffered a disappointing defeat to South Africa at Lansdowne Road this afternoon despite putting up a great fight against the visitors. Ireland were looking for their first victory against South Africa in 35 years but with only minutes remaining and the sides level, Ireland seemed to lose their concentration and South Africa went in for the kill.
The Springboks grabbed 13 points in the space of eight minutes around the mid-way point of the first half but Ireland were given a lucky break when a Ronan O'Gara kick was deemed by both touch judges to have been successful despite looking as if it had drifted wide on the television replay. It was the lifeline Ireland needed and only minutes later they were right back in the game as recalled centre Rob Henderson picked up a loose ball on the half way line and made ground before kicking ahead into the South African goal line with win Denis Hickie winning the race to get the try, his ninth of his international career.
O'Gara converted and Ireland went in at the break only three points behind. The second half was only four minutes old when O'Gara kicked over a penalty to bring the scores level and the Lansdowne Road crowd were on their feet, sensing the possibility of a shock victory. But the visitors hit back as they snatched a try following a rare mistake by Ireland's centre sensation Brian O'Driscoll. The Leinster back whose hat-trick of tries had given Ireland a famous Six Nations victory against France in Paris last season dropped the ball on the halfway line. The Springboks pounced, kicking the loose ball to within metres of the Irish line from where they regained possession. Rossouw did brilliantly to catch a low pass then found flanker Corne Krige who just had enough space to score in the corner. However, they failed to extend their lead when replacement Braam van Straaten missed the conversion.
However, once again the Irish made a spirited comeback, when replacement David Humphreys, on for O'Gara, made an immediate impact. He launched a devastating attack O'Driscoll, atoning for his earlier error, found Hickie with the neatest of passes that also sent the wing into space. Hickie made 20 metres before drawing the last defender and sending a pass out to Howe who had an unchallenged run to the line for his second try. However, Humphreys failed to convert and the score stood at 18-18.
But with just minutes remaining, the South Africans seemed to push up a gear and caught out the Irish, scoring a whopping ten points to give the scoreline a more flattering look in their favour. Braam van Straaten kicked the visitors ahead and flanker Andre Venter scored in injury time from close range with van Straaten adding the conversion to make it 28-18 and a disappointing end to an intriguing encounter.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
