The Andy Farrell, Rassie Erasmus verdict on Ireland drop goal winner

Seven days after Andy Farrell and Rassie Erasmus shared different perspectives on the TMO decisions that were the hot topic coming out of the Test series opener won 27-20 by South Africa in Pretoria, both coaches were united in their praise for how Ciaran Frawley struck from deep with time up to dramatically clinch Ireland their 25-24 win in Durban.

With Ireland trailing 22-24 and feeding the ball into a scrum on 78:47 just outside their own 22, a 2-0 series victory was in the hands of the Springboks. However, Ireland superbly countered off the set-piece and Frawley’s resulting grubber led to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu conceding a lineout under pressure from James Lowe.

Rob Herring’s throw took place on 79:41 and after Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony, Caelan Doris, Ryan Baird and Caolin Blade all handled, Frawley was stationed a step back inside the 10-metre line when his 79:59 kick was launched to grab Ireland the victory that was confirmed after TMO review showed that Cheslin Kolbe slipped in his attempted run to charge and wasn’t obstructed off the ball by Finlay Bealham.

Frawley’s coach Farrell, who made the decision on 59 minutes to swap him in at out-half in place of Jack Crowley, was chuffed with what he had witnessed.

“Let’s go through it. He kicked a ball out on the full on a crossfield kick (on 76:39), to get his composure back and then we played the play, Stu McCloskey does unbelievably well, creates the space (for Frawley) to roll the ball and (for James Lowe to) tackle someone in touch.

“It’s great play to put pressure on where it needed to be at the end of a Test match like that, but you still need guts. He had the guts in the first place to do the first drop goal and then I thought it was immense how he had the courage to take it [the second drop goal] early, so fair play to him.”

Springboks boss Erasmus concurred. “At the end, it was a really good drop goal, well executed and we couldn’t stop that. I thought we did fight back very well second half but it wasn’t good enough and that is why Ireland is one of the top teams in the world.

“Very impressed, even with the way 78 minutes on the clock they have a scrum on their own 22, we tried to put the heat on but they had a really well-organised move to the left-hand side and they got it out. We had to put the ball out and then they had a lineout and a very well set-up drop goal.

“That is what you expect from a team like that… I feel there was nothing we could do apart from trying to scrum them. We couldn’t rush on the defence, they would have cut our line and scored a try. I’m not sure who put the grubber through but that was a well-executed grubber and we got tackled out and the drop goal was set up. Very well done by them.”

Ireland skipper Caelan Doris, who led his team to a 16-6 half-time lead that was overtaken 16-18 17 minutes into the second half following his costly sin-binning, claimed Frawley’s winner was class.

“Second half felt like a bit of a s**t show at times, that first 20 in particular. I was sitting on the sideline watching some of it unfold not being able to influence and it sort of felt suffocating, penalty after penalty.

“We got it back on track… Ciaran deserves massive credit. The first drop goal, I thought the ball was going to me, I see it going in behind to him and he slots it.

“And then the composure he had, first of all going for the cross-field which didn’t come off and then he kicks it again and I think, ‘What are you doing kicking the ball away?’ A perfectly weighted kick, we tackle them into touch and just the composure he had throughout and the confidence to go for that last kick, credit to him. I thought it was class.”