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Rugby: During thrilling comeback against Ireland, Springboks show glimpses of a new era

Rugby: During thrilling comeback against Ireland, Springboks show glimpses of a new era

The Boks went from hopeless to heroes as they engineered an incredible comeback to beat Ireland 32-26 at Ellis Park on Sunday. The series is now level at 1-1 as the two sides head to Port Elizabeth this weekend – and down on the coast, there’ll be no altitude to save them. By ANTOINETTE MULLER.

Superlatives abounded on Saturday as the Springboks came from being down 3-19 against Ireland at half-time in Johannesburg to win 32-26.

Having started the first half at Ellis Park even worse than they had done at Newlands, a few super-subs and the altitude on the Highveld injected some fresh vigour into the side as Allister Coetzee notched up his first win as coach and the Boks kept the series against Ireland alive as they head to Port Elizabeth for the final Test on Saturday.

But Coetzee was under no illusions about where the Boks lacked. South Africa looked as if they had forgotten how to play rugby in the first half and were once again guilty of conceding far too many penalties. Mopst of those penalties were in kicking range for Ireland and as the scoreboard pressure built, the Boks slipped further and further away from getting even the most basic aspects of the game right.

I wasn’t happy with the work ethic in the first half. It was terrible and I told them in no uncertain terms at half-time,” Coetzee said.

We are very satisfied with the win and the way we came back and won it. Rugby ebbs and flows, but that first half was not good, although we were tactically better than last week. We also looked after the ball, especially in the wide channels. That second half just showed massive character and that was very pleasing,” he added.

After last weekend’s loss, the first Irish victory on home soil, Coetzee was at pains to point at how badly the Boks lacked discipline and how the change from Super Rugby to Test rhythm can be challenging. Those issues repeated themselves for the bulk of this week’s fixture and the South African squad now have the dubious crown of having played the worst 120 minutes of rugby in recent memory.

So bad were the Boks that the fans booed them off the field at the half-time break. Poor handling, passing, kicking and everything else that you associate with the basics of playing rugby continued to go awry in the first few minutes of the second. But Ireland slowly started to tire as the effects of the altitude on the Highveld took hold.

As the Irish battled to catch their breath, they also started to switch off and the Boks, injected with fresh vigour from Lions trio Ruan Combrinck, Warren Whiteley and Franco Mostert started to spring back into life.

They delivered an onslaught that we didn’t quite match up to,” Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said after his team wasted a 16-point lead to lose 32-26 in a thrilling home comeback.

We missed tackles and got a little unlucky at times. But that’s not going to change the result and the result is well and truly earned by the South Africans.”

That it took so long for the team to click can be put down to a combination of factors: lack of prep time as well as the fact that the South African Rugby Union (Saru) dragged their heels for months before announcing Coetzee as new coach, despite it being the worst kept secret in rugby. This slight disconnect and getting the telepathy and chemistry going within the team is something that will take time to get right, but as Coetzee pointed out, it is something we have now seen signs of.

We have been together for 20 days, the comeback showed how much we can achieve and the potential there is,” the coach said.

While altitude played a key role in helping South Africa snatch a win from the jaws of defeat, Coetzee was impressed with his team’s attitude, too, and deserves credit for making the inspired substations instead of stubbornly persisting with something that clearly wasn’t working.

Not many teams can work themselves out of that hole unless there is something special. We showed, backs to the wall, we can fight and we can win.”

One of our core values is resilience and that showed. We were in a hole and had to get out. We will become a good team, I know that, tonight was a building block. Don’t write us off yet.”

Indeed, it was the three subs, all three of them Lions players, who were pivotal in the turnaround. Combrinck, making his debut on the wing, and Warren Whiteley at number eight came on at half-time with both crossing the whitewash to help engineer the comeback. Mostert, also on debut, showed a bit of mongrel by helping Pieter-Steph du Toit over the line with a tug as the Boks reduced the deficit to just four and Coetzee lauded the subs for their impact.

The impact from the bench was massive. They turned it around for us. This team is not about 15 players, but rather all 23. Adriaan’s leadership in that time proved crucial and I am pleased in many ways that we are starting to think on the same wavelength.

I am pleased that Ruan Combrinck took his opportunities, as did players such as Julian (Redelinghuys) and Franco (Mostert). Those guys are not Lions players, they are Springboks.”

Coetzee will now have to ponder whether the players who have let him down so badly should start in the Test in Port Elizabeth or whether he should reward those subs who turned things around for him. Whatever his choices, he’ll be hoping that the team can produce more rugby like those last 20 minutes of magic at Ellis Park because maybe then everyone will start believing that this really is a new era. DM

Photo: Pieter-Steph du Toit of South Africa scores try as Franco Mostert of South Africa (above) assists during the Incoming Test Series rugby match between South Africa’s and Ireland at Ellis Park, Johannesburg on 18 June 2016 ©Gavin Barker/BackpagePix 

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