Ireland produced the upset of the first weekend of the November internationals in Europe by beating South Africa 29-15 at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the Springboks’ fellow southern hemisphere giants New Zealand, with a 24-21 win over England at Twickenham and Australia, who beat Wales 33-28 in Cardiff, had emerged victorious.
However, Ireland, against a Springbok side who had ended world champions New Zealand’s 22-match unbeaten run last time out, restored European pride.
Photo: AFP
Flyhalf Jonathan Sexton kicked 16 points in a man-of-the-match winning display, with Rhys Ruddock and Tommy Bowe scoring Ireland’s two tries.
For the injury-hit Irish, it was their first win over a southern hemisphere heavyweight since New Zealander Joe Schmidt became their coach.
The Springboks’ optimism from a breakthrough victory over New Zealand last month was punctured by the Six Nations champions, whose 6-3 halftime lead was buttressed by flanker Rhys Ruddock’s 42nd-minute try before winger Tommy Bowe dived over to clinch victory late on.
Photo: AFP
“It’s a massive win,” Ireland captain Paul O’Connell said. “To get it against one of the big southern hemisphere teams is massive for us.”
At 13-3 down early in the second half, South Africa mounted a comeback when flanker Marcel Coetzee crashed over from the back of a driving maul for a converted try and had the ascendancy going into the final 20 minutes.
Substitute Adriaan Strauss’ yellow card in the 67th minute halted South Africa’s momentum and Ireland made use of the extra man by scoring 13 points in the final nine minutes for a first win over the Springboks in five years.
Penalties from Sexton and Ian Madigan sandwiched Bowe’s try, which came when he collected a box kick from scrumhalf Conor Murray and scrambled over to score in his first Test in a year.
Substitute winger J.P. Pietersen’s last-minute try in the right corner was a consolation for the tourists, who lost to a northern hemisphere team for the first time under coach Heyneke Meyer.
At Twickenham, Jonny May’s stunning fourth-minute try gave England hope of repeating their 2012 win at home to the All Blacks.
However, New Zealand were only three points down at halftime and then showed their composure as tries from skipper Richie McCaw and Charlie Faumuina saw them to a fifth-straight win over next year’s World Cup hosts England, whose last-minute penalty try was too little, too late.
“We’ve played them four times now this year and we haven’t got the right result, but we don’t feel we’re far away,” England coach Stuart Lancaster said.
For Wales, a 10th succesive loss to the third SANZAR side, Australia, meant they have won just one out of 26 Tests and suffered 21 straight defeats against the “big three” since coach Warren Gatland took charge in 2008.
The score was 21-21 at halftime after both team had scored three converted tries apiece in a frantic first 40 minutes.
Australia flyhalf Bernard Foley kicked three second-half penalties and a drop-goal to Wales’s converted penalty try, with the hosts losing ace fullback Leigh Halfpenny to suspected concussion. The result meant Gatland was the only New Zealander in charge of a major international rugby team who lost on Saturday.
“We’ve got the ability to beat these teams... It’s just a matter of when, not if,” Wales captain Sam Warburton said.
In Edinburgh, brothers Richie and Jonny Gray scored tries in Scotland’s 41-31 win over Argentina as Kiwi boss Vern Cotter won his first home match in charge of the Scots.
“We’re a little bit disappointed at letting in 31, especially that last one at the end, but we scored 41 points here at Murrayfield and we’re delighted with the win,” Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw said.
There was plenty of French flair on display in Marseille where Teddy Thomas scored a hat-trick of tries on his Test debut in a 40-15 victory over Fiji.
He became only the second Frenchman to score a hat-tick on debut, following Rodolphe Modin, who managed three of the 13 tries Les Bleus scored against Zimbabwe at the 1987 World Cup.
“It’s a great performance,” France captain Thierry Dusautoir said of Thomas’s treble. “He worked hard for the team as well as his tries.”
Meanwhile New Zealand-born flyhalf Kelly Haimona kicked 14 points to inspire Italy to a hard-fought 24-13 victory over Samoa in Ascoli as the Azzurri ended a nine-match losing streak.
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