Boks hang on to win

The Springboks' "no excuses" tour almost began on an if-only note as they so nearly blew what appeared to be a comfortable victory.

For the vast majority of this match, Peter de Villiers's men, who played the right game for the atrocious conditions and basically took their chances as they came, looked like controlled victors in this match.

But a change in conditions, different returns from substitutions for the two teams, and good old fashioned Irish pride saw the a 14-man Bok team make it by the skin of their teeth with the hosts looking the better team.

The drying out of the conditions meant the home team could open the game up, while the new personnel's performances were an improvement on the starters, with the opening of the new Landsdowne Road Stadium, the Aviva Stadium, a stimulus for what appeared a subdued Irish side.

Prop Tom Court, and halfbacks Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara put pressure on the South Africans, Court in the set piece and the latter duo with better decision making.

By contrast, the Boks were in their element with their pack dictating things in the wet, were not as well-served by their substitutions because two of them were debutants (Pat Lambie and Keegan Daniel) and the other had played just 20 minutes of rugby since April (Adi Jacobs).

But the Boks, thanks to the cushion built earlier on and their defence just held out for their first win against Ireland since 2000.

The Bok performance took was one for the circumstances: a grim, mind over matter affair to go with the cold and wet conditions.

In a way, those who came to the stadium to see whether the visitors had finally got their heads around this ball-in-hand stuff sort of did.

The conditions called for old fashioned rugby, where you kick from your own half and only think about playing in the opposition's half.

As a result, the crowd were treated to the sight of one Bok forward after another seemingly running at their defence with a Venter trailer constantly attached to him as the visitors tried to thump their way over the advantage line.

And while most will lament the conditions, they were probably the best thing that could have happened to the Boks.

One of the most important things the rain did for the visitors was to water down the role of the centre pairing of Jean de Villiers and Zane Kirchner.

That said, De Villiers was instrumental in getting the Boks ball when the Irish defence was up to everything the visitors could throw at them, while Kirchner put Gio Aplon away for the second try.

And with those concerns allayed, the vast majority of the responsibility shifted onto the Bok pack - who were better on paper anyway - and Morne Steyn's boot.

In the scrums, the home team got their first good shove after the 134kg tighthead prop, Tony Buckley, buckled to Beast Mtawarira.

Poor Buckley, and any Irish defender who dared get in his way when he had ball in hand, was the recipient of Mtawarira's pent up frustrations.

After being a little jittery at the lineouts at the start (there were two needless quick throw-ins at the beginning), that facet was also on song, with even the vertically challenged Deon Stegmann managing a steal on debut.

The Irish lineout was in so much disarray that the Boks' first try, an intercept from the halfway line by Juan Smith, came from a botched throw-in.

The way the game finished won't have been to the Bok coaches' pleasure, but a first win in a decade will give them something to work with against Wales on Saturday.

SCORERS

Ireland 21 - Tries: Tommy Bowe, Kearney. Conversion: Ronan O'Gara. Penalties: Jonathan Sexton (3).

SA 23 - Tries: Juan Smith, Gio Aplon. Conversions: Morne Steyn, Pat Lambie. Penalties: Steyn (3).

More rugby on Pages 12 and 13