IRELAND
15. Rob Kearney: 9
Immense as usual when it matters most, his break evading three Springbok tackles before offloading to Payne resulted in a penalty and gave Ireland some much needed momentum.
14. Tommy Bowe: 8
Making a welcome return to the wing, Bowe has a habit scoring crucial tries in historic Irish wins so it was no surprise to see the Ulsterman on the end of Conor Murray’s pinpoint chip.
13. Jared Payne: 8
Hobbled off the field towards the end of a promising debut in which he marshalled the defence superbly and looked to be growing in confidence with the ball in hand.
12. Robbie Henshaw: 8.5
Who were we to question Joe Schmidt’s surprise midfield selection? Henshaw quickly rose to the challenge presented by the physical Boks and the combination with Payne looked seamless enough.
11. Simon Zebo: 7.5
Noticeably more direct and disciplined than we’ve seen him for Ireland before, Joe Schmidt will be looking for consistently solid performances like these in a big year for the Munster star.
10. Jonathan Sexton: 8.5
Flawless from the tee, Sexton’s game management when the Springboks were a man in the pack down was exemplary. His gain-line carry created the opportunity for Murray to find Bowe with his chip.
9. Conor Murray: 8
Composed and accurate despite tricky conditions and a formidable South African pack in his face, Murray placed his chip in the exact area to give Bowe an easy run in for the match winning score.
1. Jack McGrath: 8.5
McGrath was outstanding in the ferocious Irish defensive line, somehow finding the energy to make 17 tackles despite coming under extreme pressure in the set-piece.
2. Sean Cronin: 6.5
Room for improvement at the lineout and scrum, but there was plenty of fight in Cronin elsewhere.
3. Mike Ross: 7.5
It’s a miracle Ross was able to play 73 minutes given his groin troubles this season, and his nine tackles suggest he was more than a passenger only there to pack down in the scrum.
4. Devin Toner: 7
Etzebeth and Matfield were a nuisance in the lineout, though Toner gave as good as he got in disrupting maul and breakdown areas.
5. Paul O’Connell: 7.5
A win which ranks up there with O’Connell’s most memorable test victories, the high standards he demands will insist on improvement at the lineout and scrum. He made 17 tackles, no less than you would expect.
6. Peter O’Mahony: 8.5
A menace at the breakdown where South Africa struggled under pressure, O’Mahony made one crowd pleasing double-hit with O’Connell in the closing stages.
7. Rhys Ruddock: 9
Peeled off a maul to score as Ireland built an early second half lead, Ruddock matched the Boks for physicality throughout. Not bad for a late replacement, he’s now being tipped for a big year.
8. Jamie Heaslip: 8
The ever present Heaslip made 14 tackles and ran a couple of clever support lines which might have produced more but for last ditch South African tackles.
Replacements: 7
Richardt Strauss made a second appearance against his native country and Ian Madigan slotted a late penalty, but really the match was won before the raft of late replacements.
SOUTH AFRICA
15. Willie Le Roux: 5.5
Passed the box kick assessment early on but was uncharacteristically error-strewn at times, his late break which set up JP Pieterson was too little too late.
14. Cornal Hendricks: 3
Being brutally honest, what did Hendricks contribute to the game? The stats guys have generously credited a single tackle – and he missed two by the way – to his name.
13. Jan Serfontein: 6
There were a few flashes of talent from the 21 year old including an impressive pick-up off his toes in the greasy conditions. Brought a typical level of physicality.
12. Jean De Villiers: 5.5
The question has been raised in the South African press as to whether De Villiers and his young centre partner are the best long-term combination available to the Springboks.
11. Bryan Habana: 6
Unlike the Springbok on the opposite wing, Habana had the wit to go looking for work on a day which clearly wasn’t suited to wingers.
10. Handré Pollard: 6
Much lauded in the pre-match chat Pollard, while solid, had a torrid time dealing with disappointingly poor delivery from his half-back partner which had a knock-on effect to the backline.
9. Francois Hougaard: 3.5
A jittery performance, and that’s probably being kind. Hougaard seemed to rush his pass and thus squandered territory and possession too often – South Africa badly missed some experience at half-back.
1. Tendai Mtawarira: 6
The entire Springbok front-row had Ireland in considerable bother. I expected to see more of ‘the beast’ in the loose – one carry isn’t a great return from that perspective.
2. Bismarck Du Plessis: 6.5
He conceded costly penalties under pressure from an Irish pack intent on causing mayhem at ruck time. The lineout ran smoothly when he was on the field.
3. Jannie Du Plessis: 7
South Africa’s top tackler with 10, and a strong set piece performance should have been a platform for the Springboks to suffocate Ireland.
4. Eben Etzebeth: 6
Still coming back into form he wasn’t at his disruptive best although he did steal two lineouts as the Irish set piece misfired.
5. Victor Matfield: 7
A mountain in the lineout, most of South Africa’s set plays came through the experienced Matfield, a good performance in spite of the defeat.
6. Marcell Coetzee: 6.5
Repeated attempts to maul Ireland over their own line eventually resulted in Coetzee forcing his way over from one such foray into the Irish twenty-two.
7. Teboho Mahoje: 5.5
Ireland’s breakdown tactics made it incredibly difficult for Mahoje. Frequently a threat on the ground, his influence was unusually limited.
8. Duane Vermeulen: 6.5
Though an in-form Vermeulen finished the game as the top carrier amongst both forward packs with 44 metres gained, Ireland generally managed his threat well.
Replacements: 6
Speedster JP Pieterson offered much more in thirty minutes than starter Cornal Hendricks had in the first half, running in a consolation try, and while Adriaan Strauss was perhaps unfortunate to see yellow for taking the man in the air, Romain Poite was correct by the letter of the law.
By Dave Blair (@viscount_dave)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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Hougaard is past it, time to retire and give over to somebody who can play without fear. Still fancy Pat Lambie over Handre Pollard simply from the experience viewpoint, Maybe Pat for 60min and Handre for 20min will work better. JP is much better than Cornal Hendricks, much less of a 7s player so takes and makes tackles better.
Ireland under Schmidt have been playing some very intelligent rugby. They seem to be far more unpredictable in their tactical approach to each game, whereas with England and Wales everyone knows what they are going to be up against. They also combined this with an unrelenting physicality which was far above anything seen from England or Wales.
I don’t think it was by chance that 11 through to 15 for Ireland all have experience playing at 15, and that they decided to kick the hell out of the ball. Very interested to see where they go from here.
Ireland’s tactical nous was in stark contrast to the inept Bok strategy. The Ireland coaching team certainly showed the Bok team up big time – 10 out of 10!
Hougard has now once and for all made it clear that he is unable to control the game unless he has it all his own way, which clearly puts him out of contention for a world cup squad. The vast multitude of SA supporters who were just too happy to hear that Pienaar was injured got their just desserts. For European conditions Pienaar is streets ahead of Hougaard or any other SA based scrummie which spells trouble fore the remainder of the tour.
Well played Ireland.
Where are ratings for ENGLAND v RSA???