Ciaran Frawley: 'The strike was the ugliest drop goal I've ever hit'

Hang it in the Louvre. Ireland rugby fans have long cherished some famous last-gasp drop goals. Ronan O’Gara to clinch the 2009 Grand Slam in Cardiff. Johnny Sexton to finish a 2018 Hail Mary play in Paris that ignited the run to another Slam.

And now this, the swing by Ciaran Frawley of his right boot with the hooter sounding in Durban dissecting the upright and clinching a magical 25-24 series-tying win over South Africa, the reigning world champions.

Cue pandemonium. This initial jubilation was short-lived. As ever with modern Test rugby, the TMO had to have his say and check the decisive score was 100 per cent legit. It resulted in the pitch-invading Irish sideline being ushered back off the field so that Karl Dickson and co could go through their process.

Irish hearts were in mouths. After all, TMO decisions cost them dearly last weekend in Pretoria when beaten 20-27. Here, though, the Frawley strike was green-lighted. The celebrations erupted again and Ireland revelled in the moment.

They seldom win in these parts – this was only their second win over the Springboks in South Africa in their 150-year history playing the sport. All the more enchanting was how it was Frawley who made the defining difference.

Seven weeks ago in London, he was left distraught when missing a last-gasp kick for Leinster versus Toulouse in a Champions Cup final that his province went on to lose in extra time.

Now, everything was so perfect in his world. Everything bar his hoarse-sounding voice which felt like it had taken a post-game battering by the time the 26-year-old emerged from the Irish dressing room to reflect on what he quickly described as the best moment of his career.

The irony of it all was that the drop goal he missed in London on May 25 had been struck better only to miss the target where this uglier connection sailed between the sticks to give Ireland a July 13 win that will live in the annals.

“The strike was probably the ugliest drop goal I have ever hit in my life,” he chuckled to a three-strong media audience that included RugbyPass. “The one in Tottenham was way better, which is actually funny, but look it worked out which was key.

“Caolin (Blade) pulled the trigger at the right time. They [the Springboks] were probably expecting us to pick and go a little bit more, get better field position, but I felt there was no pressure on me that I went for the drop goal.

“I hit it so ugly that it was on the left post so I knew it would come back to the right. I was more so just telling it to go, get over and the ref was looking at it as well but delighted it did drop over. When they called it back for the TMO check I was, ‘God no, please find nothing here’. Look, absolutely delighted. It’s a proper way to finish a Test series.”

It was. Frawley was a 59th-minute introduction off the bench for Jack Crowley, who had done his bit in landing four penalty kicks and the conversion of Conor Murray’s 14th-minute try.

Ireland were 19-18 up when the out-half sub made his entrance but they were down 19-24 after Handre Pollard landed his seventh and eighth penalty kicks on 61 and 65 minutes, leaving the tourists seemingly with a mountain to climb.

After they were held up over the line, Frawley nicely caught the 70th-minute goal-line drop-out and he returned it with interest, cutting the gap to 22-24. Then, after he butchered one attack from inside his own half with a kick out on the full, he gambled on a grubber kick in behind the defence and James Lowe’s pursuit forced South Africa's Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to concede the lineout.

Rob Herring’s throw, Tadhg Beirne’s catch, a pass out from Peter O'Mahony, Caelan Doris’ drive up the middle, another carry by Ryan Baird. That all unfolded before Blade flashed the pass to Frawley and the rest, from a long way out, is golden Irish history.

“The lads put in a massive shift; there was a lot in the legs and you just felt that field position was the right thing at that time and it was probably in the 79th minute when we put the grubber kick through and it was an unbelievable kick-chase by James.

“He puts him out, we get the opportunity to go for the drop goal. There is a lot of little things around it but I would say a lot of people, a lot of Irish fans were probably holding their breath when the little grubber kick went through, ‘What’s he doing?’ But look, we are happy it came off. The bounce of the ball went in our favour. Delighted.

“The clock was actually hard to find in the ground. Myself and Caolin Blade were having a bit of a discussion, there was something going on before the lineout so Caolin actually saw the clock was close to being in the red and we put our heads together, said this lineout would work, so a lot of credit to him as well using the head and then we just got ourselves in the right position, the right play and we executed it well.”

Best moment of your career? “Yeah, definitely, especially after Tottenham when playing against Toulouse. I was delighted to see it go between the posts.”

How did he pick himself up after that agonising cup final miss? “You can’t be too hard on yourself. Well, you can but you can’t dwell on it too much because we were lucky enough that it wasn’t the last game of the season.

“We had Connacht the week after and had to dust ourselves off pretty quickly and get on with it, that’s life. Look, to come down here to play against the world champions and beat them in their own backyard is unbelievable.

“Look, it’s not just an individual thing. I put over the drop goal or whatever but the whole squad, I thought even that first half was unbelievable. It was probably one of the best halves of rugby you’d see from an Irish team (Ireland led 16-6 at the break) and then the way we dug in in the second half was credit to the lads. As I said, that was just my role on the night, to put over the drop goal, so it’s not just an individual thing, it's definitely a team performance.

“We’d always talk about it [drop goals], we’d talk through the routines and we do it in training as well. Look, you never really want it to come down to it, you’d always be more positive that you would come away from a game with a few points in hand but look, when it comes to them situations you have to be ready to step up and nail the moment.”

He did. “I’ve had a few pints so I feel good. It was unreal the way that finished. A proper Test match… Andy (Farrell) made very good decisions with his bench. Bringing the forwards on as well gave a lot of energy.

“The momentum swung when we got the yellow card (for Doris on 48 minutes), so decisions had to be made and look, when I came on I felt like the vibe was good amongst the group and they dug in well. There was a lot of lads there on for 80 minutes and put in a massive shift to get us that win so yeah, delighted.”