Andy Farrell's Ireland down the world champion Boks on a magic night in Dublin:
THE MOST DELICIOUS part of this for Ireland is that they truly fronted up to the Springboks in the areas that made Rassie Erasmus’ men world champions.
It was the decisive passage in the game but there is no doubting that this was a deserved victory for Andy Farrell’s men, who kept the good times rolling after their series success in New Zealand over the summer. They thoroughly justified their status as the number one-ranked team in the world. This is a group of confident, world-class Ireland players who are taking important steps along the way towards the World Cup. That tournament remains the big goal, but Johnny Sexton and co. can enjoy tonight.Ireland were 3-0 up by the third minute as a deflected Murray box kick was regathered by Garry Ringrose and Damian de Allende failed to roll clear at the breakdown inside the Boks 22, allowing Sexton a straightforward shot at goal.
The home side lost McCloskey to his shoulder injury coming towards the half-hour mark, O’Brien on for his Test debut, and though Ireland then produced back-to-back errors, Dan Sheehan soon came close to the opening try as he blocked down Willemse, nudged the ball into the Boks’ in-goal and outpaced Willemse but just knocked on as he looked to dot down.
Ireland put together a good passage off attack off the next lineout, O’Brien making a scurrying half-break in midfield before Gibson-Park’s clever inside pass allowed Hansen to make a big surge into the Boks’ 22, where Malherbe was caught offside. Bealham continued to work hard at scrum time, helping Ireland to two more penalties there, with another massive maul stop in between as the Boks looked for momentum in their 22.exclusive analysis Get Murray Kinsella's exclusive analysis and member-only episodes of The42 Rugby WeeklyThe much-vaunted Boks bench was in play by now and replacement back row Kwagga Smith came up with a big break on a quick-tap penalty, forcing Ireland into a major defensive scramble.
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