Frawley drops in for famous Irish win

MATCH REPORT: Replacement Ciaran Frawley announced his arrival on the Test stage as a true match winner, slotting two late drop-goals to secure a hard-earned one-point win for Ireland over South Africa in Durban on Saturday.

Outscoring the Springboks by one try to nil, the Shamrocks levelled at series one all and narrowed the gap to the table-topping Boks on the world rankings.

With the Boks coming back from trailing by 10 points (6-16) at half-time, to lead 24-19 with just 10 minutes remaining, Frawley slotted two drop-goals to snatch the win.

“It was instinctual,” the six-time capped Frawley said,” adding: “It felt right at the time.

“We will enjoy this win.”

Ireland dominated the opening half, employing a more energetic approach than last week – also showing a lot more physicality.

The visitors’ defensive execution, combined with some sloppy play by the Boks, also allowed Ireland to dominate the score.

It also did not help that Ireland enjoyed 65 percent of the possession (78 percent in the last 10 minutes), allowing them to dominate territory.

The roles were reversed after the break, the Boks dominating possession and territory to win a succession of penalties and get into the lead.

However, the Irish game management and Frawley’s moments of magic were just too much for the home team.

* To recap all the drama, CLICK HERE!

* (Article continues below …)

The Springboks suffered an early setback after Willie le Roux got his head on the wrong side of an attempted tackle on James Lowe and left the field in the first minute for a Head Injury Assessment.

That brought young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu into the game.

An offside penalty against Eben Etzebeth saw Jack Crowley open the scoring for Ireland in the sixth minute – 3-0.

Both Franco Mostert and Etzebeth required treatment for cuts to the head in a brutal opening quarter – dominated by Ireland’s quick-paced phase play.

That was rewarded when Crowley exposed the Bok defence and Conor Murray finished the move with a try. Crowley added the conversion – 10-0 to the visitors after 14 minutes.

A massive scrum, resulting in a penalty to the Boks, saw Handre Pollard open South Africa’s account in the 19th minute – 3-10.

Another scrum penalty in the 34th minute saw Pollard narrow the gap[ to four points – 6-10.

However, minutes later Pieter-Steph du Toit was penalised for obstruction and Crowley made it a seven-point game again – 13-6.

An offside penalty on the stroke of half-time saw Crowley give his team a 10-point (16-6) lead going into the break.

The Boks narrowed the gap to seven points, 9-16, with a Pollard penalty after an Irish offence at a ruck early in the second half.

Pollard pulled three more points back when Irish captain Caelan Doris was yellow carded for a dangerous crock roll at the tackle in the 48th minute – 12-16,.

That was followed by an offside penalty against James Ryan, with Pollard making it a one-point game – 15-16, after 53 minutes.

The Boks, with momentum and possession in their favour, forced another breakdown penalty inside the Irish 22 – Pollard putting the Boks in the lead (18-16) in the 57th minute.

Ireland’s first real chance came when Kwagga Smith gave away a ruck penalty soon after the restart and Crowley reclaimed the lead – 19-18.

However, Ireland were penalised at the restart for offside from a knock-on and Pollard kicked his seventh penalty – 21-19.

That was followed by a scrum penalty in the 65th minute, with Pollard stretching the lead to five points – 24-19.

Ciaran Frawley, on as a replacement in the 60th minute, claimed three points back with a sweetly-struck dropgoal in the 70th minute – 22-24.

And the Irish replacement, Frawley, won the game for his team with a second drop-goal on the stroke of full-time – 25-24.

Man of the match: Ox Nche, Kwagga Smith, Eben Etzebeth and Handre Pollard (with his eight penalties) were good value for the Boks. Then there were the replacements – Malcolm Marx, Grant Williams and the young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who came on for Willie le Roux in the first minute and showed maturity beyond his years and experience. For Ireland captain Caelan Doris, along with flanks Josh van der Flier and Tadhg Beirne matched the Boks’ physicality – something that was missing in Pretoria last week. James Ryan also won some crucial line-out steals early in the second half, while James Lowe went from villain last week to hero this week. My vote goes to Ireland replacement Ciaran Frawley – for those match-winning dropgoals.

Moment of the match: The early injuries to Willie Le Roux in the first minute and Franco Mostert in the 16th minute had a massive impact, with the arrival of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the first minute being a view to the Bok future. However, you can’t look past Ireland replacement Ciaran Frawley’s 80th-minute match-winning drop-goal.

Villain of the match: There was plenty of blood, sweat and tears (for the Boks). It was brutal, trench warfare, but it was a classic Test match in the traditional sense – 46 warriors going at each other. No villains, just heroes.

The scorers

For South Africa
Pens: Pollard 8

For Ireland
Try: Murray
Con: Crowley
Pens: Crowley 4
DGs: Frawley 2

Yellow card: Caelan Doris (Ireland, 48 – foul play, dangerous crock roll)

Teams:

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Caolin Blade. 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey.

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (England), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)

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