Ciarán Frawley coolly landed a last-gasp drop goal as Ireland weathered a second-half storm to pull off a stunning 25-24 victory in Durban and secure a 1-1 series draw against South Africa.
Frawley stepped off the bench to split the posts in dramatic fashion with the final action of a thrilling encounter at Kings Park Stadium after a similar effort only 10 minutes earlier.
Andy Farrell’s side had looked set to slip to an agonising defeat to the back-to-back world champions after Conor Murray’s try helped reward a ferocious first-half display with a 16-6 lead. The flawless fly-half Handré Pollard slotted eight penalties to turn the contest in the Springboks’ favour on the back of their 27-20 triumph last weekend in Pretoria.
But Frawley sensationally added to 14 points from the Ireland No 10, Jack Crowley, to secure a statement success from Farrell’s 50th Test as head coach. The extraordinary twist came at the end of an undisciplined second period from Ireland during which the stand-in captain, Caelan Doris, wassent to the sin bin.
The victory is only Ireland’s second on South African soil and even more impressive given they were without five of their first-choice stars. The injured duo of Dan Sheehan and Bundee Aki joined tour absentees Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan on the list of unavailable talent.
Farrell dropped his skipper, Peter O’Mahony, to the bench as part of four personnel changes from the opening Test and warned his players to expect South Africa to be “twice as good” as seven days ago. The hosts stuck with an unchanged 23, including selecting the most experienced starting XV in the nation’s history, after a first success over Ireland since 2016.
The Springboks full-back Willie le Roux was forced off with a head injury, while his teammates Franco Mostert and Eben Etzebeth were left with bloodied faces during an intense opening in which Crowley calmly slotted a penalty.
Ireland’s physical start was deservedly rewarded with a superb 14th-minute try. Slick interplay between Jamie Osborne and Robbie Henshaw opened up the hosts’ defence, leaving the scrum-half Murray to add to his score in Pretoria with another diving finish.
A bruising encounter showed little sign of relenting and the Ireland prop Andrew Porter was bloodied for the second successive week after Pollard’s penalty put South Africa on the scoreboard. Ireland were dominantyet needed their alert full-back Osborne to produce a crucial last-ditch tackle metres from the try line to preserve their lead after Kwagga Smith charged down a Crowley kick to race clear.
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Pollard and Crowley exchanged further penalties, while Doris was held up on the line by Pieter-Steph du Toit moments before the break. The Six Nations champions should really have turned their territory into a second try but had to settle for the consolation of another three points from the boot of Crowley to end a fierce first half 10 points in front.
South Africa returned fired up and moved within four points after two more Pollard penalties, the second of which was converted after the stand-in skipper Doris was shown a yellow card for a crocodile roll on Malcolm Marx.
Poor discipline was piling pressure on Ireland and proved extremely costly during a monumental shift in momentum. The Springboks led for the first time in the 58th minute through Pollard’s sixth penalty and then quickly restored the lead through two more kicks from the same player after Crowley’s boot briefly stemmed the one-way traffic.
But Ireland remained in touching distance going into the closing stages and, after again being held up on the line, reduced the deficit to two points thanks to Frawley’s fine drop goal from distance. He then repeated the trick in a fascinating climax to stun South Africa.