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AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: South Africa v Ireland, Summer Tour Final Test

We went minute-by-minute as Ireland target another piece of history in Port Elizabeth.

FULL-TIME: South Africa 19 Ireland 13

80 mins: Faf de Klerk races out and hits Keith Earls man and ball, preventing him spinning wide to the outside man. Penalty given. That will be that.

79 mins: Ireland are through 10 phases and looking for the big men to take them forward…

Ultan Dillane is knocked back. A rarity. But he comes back for more and hits the gainline.

77 mins: South Africa just aren’t good enough to wrap up this series. Paddy Jackson rifles a penalty up the touchline and we can go again.

75 mins: Big Ultan Dillane and Rhys Ruddock with their shoulders to the wheel as Ireland go through over 20 phases… ah but the whistle comes with Ireland 10 metres out. Penalty South Africa. They’re let off the hook again.

74 mins: Yeow! Huge break around the corner from Cronin. The man is raw power. Ireland are in the final third and attacking. Hope remains of a series win…

72 mins: The bench is coming much sooner than Schmidt released them last week. Ian Madigan and Sean Cronin are in.

Oh no. Olding just tries to force the issue and his pass is intercepted.

69 mins: Eoin Reddan is on the field for his final rugby match and he forces a penalty for holding on.

PENALTY! South Africa 19 Ireland 13 (Jackson)

68 mins: PENALTY! South Africa 19 Ireland 10 (Jantjies)

66 mins: It’s not quite as stark as last weekend, but there’s a definite sense that Ireland are running on fumes come the final quarter. Boks making inroads with carries, Ireland soaking tackles and the pressure is on for men trying to roll away from tackles.

Conor Murray can’t get out of the way on his 22 and Jantjies can kick the hosts more than a score in front.

63 mins: Irish players running into each other all over the park now. All that talk about trusting the process has to ring true now.

61 mins: Oof! Paddy Jackson asserts his authority on his back-line. He looks to call a mark in the 22 and Keith Earls comes careering into him. But the out-half stays strong and holds tight.

Excellent long-range effort from the big winger, that’s one of the extra dimensions he brings to the Boks.

59 mins: PENALTY! South Africa 16 Ireland 10 (Combrinck)

54 mins: Great work from Matt Healy, pumping his legs and handing off to make a yard after contact with two Bok tacklers. The more we see of this man in a green shirt, the better.

52 mins: Brilliant platform laid by the pack. Murray reverses the play to attack the open side and Jackson raids the open space. He attempts a long pass to the right, but Faf De Klerk goes full stretch to cut out and regather a ball that seemed destined for a Keith Earls finish.

50 mins: That’s the end of Mike Ross’ season.  He jogs off to allow Tadhg Furlong pick up the battle with The Beast.

46 mins: Matt Healy hasn’t been able to impact the game from fullback so far and he knocks on a high ball as the Boks build pressure.

Fortunately Conor Murray forces a penalty for holding on on the edge of the22 and Jackson can kick us clear.

42 mins: A tight, physical start to the second half sees Ireland force their way to the 22 before a knock-on brings the Boks scrum back into the game.

HALF-TIME: South Africa 13 Ireland 10

TRY! South Africa 13 Ireland 10 (Pietersen ’39)

Terrific finish from the wing, takes Janjies cross-field kick in his outstretched arms at full tilt and races the final 10 metres before touching down.

Jantjies adds the conversion.

36 mins: Henderson strips the ball after the scrum and Marshall goes on a weaving run around the Bok defence. Superb scything lines. He lines up a pass for Earls outside, but it goes to ground and it’s whistled forward before Earls can recover the situation.

35 mins: Big hit from Luke Marshall and Trimble looks like he’s away with the loose ball. Ach, but they call the knock on.

32 mins: PENALTY! South Africa 6 Ireland 10 (Jantjies)

28 mins: Luke Marshall is battting .500 at the minute. Bits of excellence and mistakes all mixed in together. His no-look pass is intercepted, but fortunately knocked on.

South Africa win a penalty off the scrum.

26 mins: Lovely little cameo from Olding to create a break for himself with a chip and regather. Jackson aims the follow up kick wide right, but it’s just taken in by the Bok covering back.

PENALTY! South Africa 3 Ireland 10 (Jackson ’22)

The Ulster playmaker dusts himself down after a miss and fires over a beaut from 40 metres.

The man is a beautiful freak

15 mins: TRY! South Africa 3 Ireland 7 (Luke Marshall)

Patience and pressure pay off for the visitors and Luke Marshall takes the benefit of a big carry from Iain Henderson. He takes Murray’s pass, shapes to pass but backs himself to duck through a tackle and over the line.

Jackson adds the conversion.

12 MINS: Tiernan O’Halloran has gone off for treatment meanwhile. Consistency would tell us that was a certain red. But there is no such thing when the criteria for determining the decision is so reactive.

11 MINS: Ouch! we’re with the TMO after Willie Le Roux took Tiernan O’Halloran out in the air.

It looks an awful lot like the red cards we’ve seen handed out over the years for these incidents as O’Halloran lands head over feet.

But they come to a decision… YELLOW CARD.

Believe it or not, today will finally bring an end to a long, hard Irish rugby season.

After a disappointing World Cup and Six Nations campaign, Joe Schmidt’s side are 80 minutes from capping a year’s effort with a historic achievement, a series win.

They’ve already won in South Africa, just a fortnight ago and with 14 men. There’s a lot of miles on the collective clock, but these Springboks have been outplayed twice already. Surely there’s one more performance now that Ireland are back at sea level?

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Here’s a reminder of the teams named for today’s deciding third Test. Big boshing wing Ruan Combrinck earned a start for smashing his way to victory last weekend. Warren Whiteley replaces the injured Duane Vermeulen at number eight.

South Africa

15. Willie le Roux
14. Ruan Combrinck
13. Lionel Mapoe
12. Damian de Allende
11. JP Pietersen
10. Elton Jantjies
9. Faf de Klerk

1. Tendai Mtawarira
2. Adriaan Strauss (captain)
3. Frans Malherbe
4. Eben Etzebeth
5. Pieter-Steph du Toit
6. Francois Louw
7. Siya Kolisi
8. Warren Whiteley

Replacements:

16. Bongi Mbonambi
17. Steven Kitshoff
18. Julian Redelinghuys
19. Franco Mostert
20. Jaco Kriel
21. Rudy Paige
22. Morné Steyn

Matt Healy will hope to win his debut off the bench, but it’s Tiernan O’Halloran who gets the big vote of confidence as he makes a full debut in place of the injured Jared Payne. And then, of course, there’s the return of Big CJ Stander.

Ireland

15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Luke Marshall
12. Stuart Olding
11. Keith Earls
10. Paddy Jackson
9. Conor Murray

1. Jack McGrath
2. Rory Best (captain)
3. Mike Ross
4. Iain Henderson
5. Devin Toner
6. CJ Stander
7. Jordi Murphy
8. Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:

16. Sean Cronin
17. Finlay Bealham
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Ultan Dillane
20. Rhys Ruddock
21. Eoin Reddan
22. Ian Madigan
23. Matt Healy

Rory Best and his team are out on the field. Now the crowd ups the noise as Adriaan Strauss appears in the tunnel.

Some obligatory fireworks, anthems and we’ll be ready for off.

Interesting stat. Probably tells more about the injuries to Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne over the last two years than any sense of tinkering from Schmidt.

Right, that’s the formalities out of the way. Let’s play some rugby!

Elton Jantjies kicks off. Tiernan O’Halloran gets what i think is his first touch in international rugby. Boks go off their feet and let Ireland take an easy out from the 22.

2 mins: Terrific bright first set of phases from Ireland.

Tiernan O’Halloran makes a half break out wide and the Boks were on their back foot.

I was about to type that Luke Marshall did well to take a ball at the second attempt before that, but his second possession does hit the deck and we’ll go to the scrum.

First scrum is functional for SA. Jantjies kicks high and Combrinck takes out Keith Earls as he takes it. But the Moyross man is sturdy enough to hold on.

Unfortunately, another error from Marshall comes as he is well offside for Conor Murray’s box kick.

PENALTY! South Africa 3 Ireland 0 (Jantjies ’5)

The Bok 10 is off to a good start, a sub 40-metre kick on the angle from the right side is high and between the posts.

Ireland follow up with a crooked line-out.

Ireland’s Jackson confident with Ulster centres Olding and Marshall alongside

Before the World Championship we asked the Ireland U20 squad what they hoped to achieve

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