Donal Lenihan: Ireland will need every bit of their downtime

On a magnificent Parisian evening, Saint-Denis played host to a captivating contest. No matter what district of this wondrous city attracted your attention in the 24 hours leading into the game, it was impossible not be bump into thousands of South African and Irish fans, bedecked in forty shades of green.

Contests of this nature rarely live up to expectations but this 13-8 success had everything, one of the greatest pool games in the history of the tournament. An Irish team suffering a set piece meltdown throughout the opening half hour yet, somehow, managing to find a way to lead by four points at the break.

Andy Farrell has steadfastly built the character and resilience of this team over the last 18 months, dating back to the five-match tour of New Zealand in the summer of 2022. 

He has been priming them for nights like this, when things start to fall apart, when you’re on the receiving end of a pummeling yet refuse to yield, finding a way to make quick fixes on the run.

This Irish team had to dig deep, into the deepest recesses of their self belief, to emerge on top of this compelling face off. South Africa were outstanding, Ireland even better but, unfortunately, brilliant and all as this occasion proved, the Webb Ellis Cup won’t be handed out for another five weeks.

The one thing we know with certainty is that South Africa will come back stronger and will draw massively from the fact that they won the World Cup in Japan four years ago despite losing, far more comprehensively to New Zealand in their opening pool game of the tournament than they did on Saturday.

The most noticeable thing in the aftermath was the body language of the Springbok players. They were down but far from out. Their was a clear respect between the two sets of players as they hugged and shook hands on the final whistle but also a steely and determined look that suggested this proud Springbok squad weren’t ready to relinquish their crown just yet.

Opposite them an Irish team, slightly stunned by the magnitude of their achievement, thoroughly exhausted having left everything on the field, but determined to absorb and enjoy their moment of triumph. Should fate decree that the sides meet again, Ireland too will be better for this stern examination.

In the context of a World Cup, we haven’t experienced a night like this since taking our first big southern hemisphere scalp at a World Cup when beating Australia on a wonderful evening at Ellis Park, Auckland back in 2011.

On that occasion, a young Irish audience, primarily made up of those forced to travel to Australia and New Zealand as a result of the economic meltdown at home in the late noughties created a magnificent backdrop to an emotional evening. 

Unfortunately, Ireland failed to capitalise on that seismic result against the Wallabies when losing to a young Welsh side at the quarter final stage.

This time out it felt as if the whole of Ireland had decamped to Paris. I’ve never witnessed this level of support for an Irish rugby team playing away from home and, make no mistake, they made their presence felt when the team needed it most.

The opening quarter could hardly have gone any worse for Farrelly’s men. All week Paul O'Connell and John Fogarty focused on the importance of getting the set piece functioning to maximum effect in order to compete on an equal footing to this South African team.

Informed opinion suggests you need to build a score against them, take your points when the opportunity presents itself and make the Springboks chase you. Yet when the early pressure Ireland imposed resulted in kickable penalties, Johnny Sexton went for gold and kicked to the corner. 

The psychological boost to the South Africans when pilfering two Irish line outs five meters from their line, having conceded those early penalties, was enormous. For Ireland to lose their first four lineouts was the stuff of nightmare.

The Springboks read Ireland’s line out superbly, gambled by launching their big men in the air despite defending so close the their line. Their bravery was handsomely rewarded. I’ve no doubt that the knowledge and insight RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn was hugely influential in that key aerial battle.

They know the triggers, the body language and type of ball that Peter O'Mahony and Tadhg Beirne, in particular, want to be delivered from their thrower and were able to impart that knowledge to their Springbok colleagues.

They were also aided by the fact that referee Ben O'Keeffe allowed them close the mandatory one-metre gap between the two opposing line outs, offering Ireland even less space to operate. 

Having been out of the game for so long due to injury, Ireland’s hooker Ronan Kelleher hasn’t experienced that kind of pressure for a long time when looking to find his men out of touch.

The most pleasing aspect was that Ireland found a way to problem solve on the run, most noticeably by cutting the line out to five and creating more space to manoeuvre. 

Once they delivered decent ball off the top, Ireland’s attack started functioning and the rewards flowed, not least, when Mack Hansen scored the first try of the night off a sumptuous cut out pass from fellow winger James Lowe.

Given all the talk about the 7/1 split on the Springbok bench and the undoubted impact that was going to have in the third quarter, it was brilliant to see an equally impactful shift put in by the Irish bench, not least from Finley Bealham, Dan Sheehan and Iain Henderson up front.

The fact that Andrew Porter played all but the last six minutes at loose head prop was heroic in the extreme and that it was a scrum penalty, in front of the Springbok posts with three minutes to go, that sealed the match was testament to Ireland’s stubbornness and stickability.

Sexton played a true captain's role, despite being subjected to a thorough physical examination from Springbok back rower Pieter-Steph du Toit. Hit early, late, and often, Sexton survived one bone-crunching hit from Damien DeAllende but refused to buckle.

Eventually he was hauled off with 12 minutes to go when he lost his battle to cramp. Alongside him Bundee Aki was imperious for a third game in a row. He, along with everyone else who saw game time on Saturday night will benefit hugely for the two-week break that couldn’t be better timed before the final pool outing against Scotland on October 7.

Ireland’s cause on the night was also boosted when the predicted frailty surrounding South Africa’s place kicking came back to haunt them with 11 points left behind. In a game at tight as this was always going to be, that proved crucial and certain to result in 2019 World Cup winner Handre Pollard being recalled to the side for their final pool outing against Tonga.

In a game of this brutal intensity, it was testament to the discipline, accuracy and technical efficiency of both teams that not a single card, yellow or red, was required from O'Keeffe. With five weeks to go before the final, both these sides still have a distance to go to reach their chosen destination.