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'Horrendous showing': Springbok fans come to uncomfortable realisation after Ireland defeat

(Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

The last time the Springboks travelled to Dublin they suffered a heavy 38-3 defeat five years ago, but this time things were different as the visitors came as World Cup holders.

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South Africa claimed the Rugby World Cup in 2019 while Ireland climbed to No 1 in the World Rugby rankings after beating the All Blacks in a three match series 2-1 in July.

South African fans had high expectations that the result in Dublin would be reversed to help prove their credibility as World Cup champions.

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After failing to capture the Rugby Championship for two years running, knocking off the No 1 side at home would be a powerful statement for the Springboks.

After a tense opening half locked at 6-all it was Ireland who started strong with back-to-back tries in the second half to build a 16-6 lead, a deficit too much for the visitors to overcome.

Springbok fans vented online at the ‘horrendous showing’ with some coming to an uncomfortable realisation – that the side may have been lucky during their World Cup run.

One fan wrote “that World Cup win was a fluke and we all know it” after watching Ireland hold on for a 19-16 victory, which was South Africa’s ninth loss since becoming champions.

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The Irish pack largely stood up to the Springboks at set-piece time, demolishing them at the scrum a couple of times and disarming the famed rolling maul.

After introducing a new front row, South Africa conceded a penalty with the first scrum with their fresh forwards.

Ireland gained the upper hand up front and laid the platform for their win with the opening try to Josh van der Flier who squeezed the ball down from the back of the maul.

As has become a standard reaction from many South African fans, some naturally turned on the referee to lay blame for the result with claims Ireland got away with forward passes and ‘incorrect’ scrum penalties.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi praised the Irish defence who ‘stopped the maul’ from the very beginning and caused issues at the scrum.

“I thought Ireland played really well and they deserved the victory today,” Kolisi said.

“Our maul was stopped from the word go and then obviously our scrums can be much better. We normally dominate in those instances and I thought Ireland were really good.

“They came prepared, they knew our maul was one of our key things and they made plans to stop that.

“In the Rugby Championship we created so many opportunities and we didn’t take them and the same thing happened today.

“When you play against a team like this with so little, they had two opportunities and scored a try in both of them.”

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Comments

25 Comments
J
JS 990 days ago

The World Cup win a fluke?? What Bol)@ks! We go through this type of BS every time the Springbok team fails. Every year before a World Cup the Springboks seem to take a dip and every man jack and his dog has a go at the team only for the Boks to take the cup. I think the Boks did quite well against Ireland and kudos to them for exposing some weaknesses in the Bok team. They played good hard rugby with excellent defense and if we want to win our next world cup then we need these types of games to hone a world beating team. I hate losing as much as the next guy but to expect the Boks to win very time is just foolish and naive

j
james 991 days ago

NH rugby media are ridiculously biased against boks - boks are better than Ireland - fact. If they only lost by 3 points away, therefore would arguably win on neutral ground, and almost certainly at home

j
johnny 988 days ago

They’re quite obviously not better, as they lost. The Boks all talk about not having key players. Then get some, like most developed tier 1 teams, Ireland have strength in depth. They were down potentially 6 starting players and still came away with a win. So sick of SA and their “poor us, it’s everyone else’s fault”, cop on, front up and accept you lost.

V
Vin 991 days ago

Utter bollox....!

r
ruggaforfun 991 days ago

Boks loose another one. No surprise, they could'nt attach a freshly made pizza in front of them. Who wants to bet they dont make the semis next year. Over rated..

C
Chris 991 days ago

Go ahead and bet your house then good sir

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 991 days ago

One shouldn't make a bet with one with the reasoning powers of an amoeba.

B
Baz 991 days ago

A great result for Ireland against the world champions. Things looked grim in the first half when we were being knocked backwards in tackles and rucks but we hung on and defended well. I’m a bit mystified by SA tactics - some of the flyhalf’s kicks were ghastly and the extremely pacy back three got next to no ball.

B
Bobbyboi 991 days ago

Hugely bad faith article

C
Chris 991 days ago

What is this rubbish of an article? We Lost with poor goal kicking and that’s a fact. That Irish side sweated their pants wet at home in front of a packed crowd. Pollard will be back RWC time and those easy 3’s will go down the middle.

V
Vin 991 days ago

World champions? At being sore losers, it would seem....!

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 991 days ago

After SS failed to write an honorable article for two years, penning one halfway decent one would have gone a long way. He’ll rue his mis-chance.


SA rugby fans with half a brain should realize how well the Boks played in areas (the defense for the most part was blazing good: the midfield wasn’t nearly as carved up as some predicted and others feared [e.g. go back to game 3 of Ireland vs. ABs]) although it always smarts to lose, and doubly when so close. Pollard (on a good day) and Am (on any day) perhaps would have made a three point + difference, or bringing Le Roux on a wee bit earlier.

r
ruggaforfun 991 days ago

I beg to differ sir. The Springboks were consistent in that they failed to have any decent cohesion on attack, missed basic kicks, could not keep up pressure, lack of communication, consistent missed tackles, stupid foul play etc, I could go on but my point is made. To say the Sprinboks are the most over rated team would be an understatement. The 2019 world cup win was 'luck' really, just total luck. The boks were quite pathetic throughout the tournament and then played an England in the final who admitted they had one of the poorest games in their history. So you walk around think in the typical afrikans fashion with incorrect English etc, ''we is champions, we is best in the world even though we keep getting beaten by AB's/Ireland/Wales/Australia, etc. Face it the boks are overated and are actually a 2nd tier team. You should be relegated to a weaker pre cup challenge with the likes of Holland and America. Your no where near good enough to be worthy to even play 1st tier nations. OVERATED

E
E 991 days ago

This is the same Irish side that bossed the AB's, so no disgrace in losing to them, especially without HP & LA in the backline.

r
ruggaforfun 991 days ago

Bru, please no more excuses, Am and Pollard would't have made any difference. Am is a great play but the boks as a team cannot attack a baby rabbit that is tied up never mind a professional team. Polland is useless, he misses easy kicks all the time. Unfortunately, untill RSA hire a really coach and get a proper Attach coach and get rid of erasmus and nienaber and this stupid false mentality of your dna being Afrikans and running like morons in a straight line and getting outmuscled, then the 'boks' will never be up to much at their best which lets face it is not that great nor seen that often. Overated springboks.

f
fl 991 days ago

South Africa played much much better than anyone could have reasonably expected.


If south African fans went into the match thinking it was winnable then they're completely out of touch with reality

C
Chris 991 days ago

Bro, we nearly did win. So we we must be crazy. At least we didn’t embarrass ourselves like nz

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