Ireland v South Africa: Five classic clashes

When The Gascon docked at Southampton, in England, on 19 September 1906, it was with great anticipation that 30 players disembarked.

South Africa’s 1906 tour of the British Isles and France was the first overseas tour by the team then nicknamed ‘De Springbokken‘.

Legend would have it that captain Paul Roos was asked by a journalist what his team was called, and he said: ‘De Springbokken‘.

The name later evolved to Springboks.

However, before I digress too much, this tour was also the first time Ireland and South Africa went head-to-head in a Rugby Union international.

South Africa’s 1906 tour of the British Isles and France was the first overseas tour by De Springbokken and was a major event in South African sports history.

The Boks won 26 out of 29 matches, with notable results including a loss to Scotland, a draw against England, and victories against Ireland and Wales.

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South Africa dominated their early meetings, with the Irish winning just once against South Africa before 2004, but results have since turned in Ireland’s favour.

Ireland has won nine of the last 14 Test matches against South Africa since they met during the 2004 year-end internationals.

Following Ireland’s tour win over New Zealand in 2022, South Africa are the only major Southern Hemisphere team over which Ireland has not achieved a series victory, although in 2024 the two sides shared a series in South Africa 1-1.

The 1906 tour was instrumental in uniting the country and establishing South Africa as a global rugby powerhouse.

Ahead of Saturday’s crunch Test between The Shamrocks and Boks, I will have a gander at five classic Rugby Union clashes between Ireland and South Africa!

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1906 – Balmoral Showgrounds, Belfast: Ireland 12-15 South Africa

Having recorded 15 successive wins on tour, the Boks lost 0-6 the Scotland in the first Test at Hampden Park.

The 1906 Springboks, the first national team to utilise the 3-4-1 forward formation, arrived at the Balmoral Showgrounds a week later and played Ireland in Belfast in front of 15,000 spectators.

Unlike the previous week, in a very wet and muddy Glasgow, Belfast delivered more favourable conditions for the tourists.

South Africa led 12-3 at half-time and seemed on course for victory.

However, a tremendous rally by the Ireland side with a memorable length of the field try from their wing Basil Maclear brought the scores level at 12-12 midway through the second half.

The Springboks kept attacking and their wing Anton Stegmann scored in the far left corner from a cross-kick by their star centre Japie Krige 10 minutes from time, to win the match.

1961 – Newlands, Cape Town: South Africa 24-8 Ireland

It was more than 50 years since their first Test, before Ireland travelled to South Africa.

In 1960, South Africa had beaten Ireland 8-3 at Lansdowne Road. The following year Ireland embarked on their first tour of South Africa.

Among the touring party was Tony O’Reilly who had previously toured South Africa with the British Lions in 1955.

In front of 35,000 spectators at the ‘old’ Newlands, the tour began with a full international in Cape Town.

As was the case in the five previous Tests, the Boks won.

Tom Kiernan scored all of Ireland’s points with a try, a conversion and a penalty.

Captained by Johan Claassen, the Boks outscored the Irish by five tries to one – inside centre Colin Greenwood and right wing Ben-Piet van Zyl both scoring twice. No.8 Doug Hopwood got the fifth try, with flyhalf Charlie Nimb adding three conversions and a penalty.

Four members of this Irish touring party – Niall Brophy, Tom Kiernan, Syd Millar and Bill Mulcahy – would return to South Africa with the British and Irish Lions in 1962. Kiernan, Millar and Ronnie Dawson, as a coach, would also return with the Lions in 1968.

1998 – Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria: South Africa 33-0 Ireland

The year 1998 was not good for South African and Irish relationships.

Most pundits would focus on the Springboks’ 37-13 win over Ireland in Bloemfontein, or their 27-13 win at Lansdowne Road in Dublin that November.

For me, it was Loftus Versfeld, June 20 – undoubtedly one of the most brutal, the dirtiest and most ill-tempered games I ever watched live.

In 1998, Ireland toured the Republic with a young and inexperienced side, facing a Springbok team who were on a six-match winning streak and fresh off a European tour in 1997 where records were shattered.

While some decent rugby was played in Bloemfontein, tempers were already simmering.

In Pretoria, a week later, it boiled over, as the outclassed Irish let their frustrations get the better of them.

Current Bok coach Rassie Erasmus will remember that game best for the fisticuffs, including a couple of neat uppercuts from Trevor Brennan, later banned for life for attacking a fan at a game.

Dion O’Cuinneagain, who had captained South Africa at both schoolboy and Sevens level before he switched allegiances, made his senior international debut for Ireland in Bloemfontein.

Paul Wallace, Keith Wood and Peter Clohessy were other roughies in the tour squad. The drama at Loftus was simmering from the outset, but boiled over after an off-the-ball incident with Springbok Captain Gary Teichmann set off a series of punch-ups and off-the-ball incidents.

Tensions continued to simmer on the field, fueled by ever-more robust tackling and fiercely contested set-pieces.

Try as he might, French referee Joël Dumé lost control of the game as he found himself constantly intervening in punch-ups all over the field.

2004 – Lansdowne Road, Dublin: Ireland 17-12 South Africa

This game will be forever remembered for the infamous Paul Honiss ‘speak to your team’ moment.

The game’s only try was scored in controversial circumstances by Irish flyhalf Ronan O’Gara.

In the 21st minute, the New Zealand referee, Honiss, awarded Ireland a penalty inside the South African 22 and told John Smit to go and talk to his players regarding their repeated infringements at the breakdown.

Honiss later claimed, despite all the television footage to the contrary, that he never intended to stop the match, even though he had called ‘time off’.

“I inadvertently had a discussion with John Smit, to say: ‘Look mate, you can’t keep giving penalties away’, and I had no intention of basically stopping the game. It was a quick message to John,” he told Aaron Goile of stuff.co.nz.

“Unbeknownst to me, behind my back, he was calling his team together. My assistant referee gave me no indication [about what Smit was doing], and I was walking back to the mark, and I even said to the TMO I’m going to restart the game.

“The upshot was that from that particular decision, Ireland scored a try which, on reflection, was wrong. And I took that, myself, as being my mistake.”

He said the Bok captain, Smit, should have asked for ‘permission’ to speak to his team, despite having already been told to do so.

2023 – Stade de France, Paris: Ireland 13-8 South Africa

In a crucial World Cup Pool B match, in which world No.1 Ireland edged the defending champion Boks 13–8 in a classic match that had the Irish fans belting out the famous Cranberries song Zombie.

The official estimate was that there were roughly 35,000 Irish fans in Paris for the match.

It was a statement victory from Ireland, with Johnny Sexton flawless off the tee and Manie Libbok landing one from five.

However, it was the post-match arrogance (confidence?) of the Irish that riled up the Boks, with Eben Etzebeth famously recalling he was told by the Irish that they would see South Africa in the Final.

SA reached the Final.

Ireland did not.

Ireland did win a classic in the iconic Paris venue on that balmy September evening, one of the most pulsating and enthralling matches for years.

It was a contest where you dared not blink for fear of missing a game-changing moment.

That kind of intensity I again experienced in three one-point play-off wins by the Boks on their way to a fourth World Cup title.

*On to Lansdowne Road we march, for Saturday’s much-anticipated year-end face-off!

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