Mike Greenaway
After Ciarian Frawley sentenced South Africa to the pain of a one-point defeat with his last-gasp drop goal at the Shark Tank, there was a ceasefire after what has seemed like years of war with the Irish, and coaches Rassie Erasmus and Andy Farrell signed a truce based on mutual respect.
The Ireland coach looked mightily relieved that the 25-24 win had saved the series and described the Springboks as “a magnificent team” before adding, “Our tussles with South Africa have been immense and we had to show guts, bravery and composure. Now I am looking forward to getting together with the Boks and enjoying a few drinks with them.”
A philosophical Erasmus doffed his cap to Farrell and acknowledged that Ireland deserved the win.
“We can sit here with a sad face and think of excuses, but the best team won on the day,” the Bok coach said.
“We would love to have beaten them 2-0 but now it is a drawn series, which is consistent with the games between these teams over the last few years. There always seems to be two or three points in it and it is always tight when we play them there (in Ireland) too,” said Erasmus.
“Ireland were definitely in the mood of a team that was playing its last game of the season and had a five-week break to look forward to after this. They came out firing and really started well, and it was a well-executed drop goal that won it for them. We fought well but it just wasn’t enough.
“We wanted to win the series so we are disappointed that we didn’t get that result. But then so would they have been aiming for a 2-0 win, so neither side will be happy.”
Captain Siya Kolisi felt his team were the architects of their own destruction for allowing Ireland to shoot out of the starting blocks and leave the Boks for dead.
“The way we started wasn’t good, and we’ve only got ourselves to blame,” he said.
“We weren’t all on the same page or firing at the same time, but you must also give credit to the guys who came on to fight our way back into the game. We would have loved to have won the series – the people who were here today were amazing in the way they supported us.
“It would have been great to reward such passionate fans with a win and we’re definitely hurting, but we’re not dead and we will come back again.
“We allowed them to set the tone for the game in the first half. There’s so much we can improve on as a group. Each of us as an individual is going to look at himself. Hopefully, we can rectify this next time out.”
The match could be likened to a street fight between two equally tooled gangs and blood flowed liberally. Bok locks Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert had gashes in their heads within 10 minutes.
“It was a case of two very good sides going at it,” Farrell said.
“The first half was way up there physically, with some serious collisions, and we needed to be tough to beat them. In the first half, we were much better than we were in the first half of the Pretoria game, and then there was a complete role reversal after that from the Pretoria game.
“South Africa showed their class in the third quarter but we knew if we hung in and showed character we could win. There was a lot of pressure on us to perform. South Africa are a wonderful team, magnificent.”
Erasmus said the early injury to fullback Willie le Roux had a significant impact on the Boks’ organisation on attack.
“If Willie is there our attack is different and he connects the centres,” Erasmus said.
“Ultimately, it was the drop goal that made the difference and one very good inside pass earlier in the game (that led to Conor Murray’s try) that cost us. We did miss Willie’s vision and feel for the game. He’s not the youngest and fastest any more but he links the two centres.”