AMID ALL THE talk last week about the Springboks’ 7/1 bench, their ‘nuclear Bomb Squad,’ Ireland kept quietly reminding us that they have a pretty good bench themselves.
The closing quarter of the Irish win in Paris on Saturday night backed up that confidence in their replacements.
Indeed, it’s easy argue that Ireland’s bench had a greater impact than the Springboks’ subs. It doesn’t come as a massive surprise that the Irish bench were an important part of the win. They’ve been impacting games for a long time now under Andy Farrell.
The Irish bench is a little unique in that it often includes players who are more experienced than the starters in their positions. Even without the injured Cian Healy and Jack Conan, regulars among the Irish replacements, that was the case last weekend.
Scrum-half Conor Murray is a centurion with 110 caps. With 77 caps, second row Iain Henderson is a veteran of Test rugby. Robbie Henshaw, capped 67 times, has seen it all. Dave Kilcoyne has 54 caps, Finlay Bealham has 34. The bench also included Ryan Baird and Jack Crowley, with just 23 caps between them, but it’s largely an experienced crop.
A couple of years ago, Murray wasn’t anyone’s idea of an impact replacement, but there are ways to impact a game that don’t involve running over or side-stepping defenders. Murray has consistently made an impact for Ireland.
Oftentimes, the Irish bench bring a calm edge to proceedings. They manage highly pressurised situations with poise. After years of hard training, their first-hand experience is invaluable when shit threatens to hit the fan. They are the Bomb Defusers.
Once again on Saturday night, the Irish bench were crucial. Ireland boss Farrell chose to start sending them on directly after Cheslin Kolbe’s try left the Springboks 8-7 ahead with 52 minutes played.
Ireland won the next 28 minutes on a 6-0 scoreline to claim the overall victory. As we’ll see, that certainly wasn’t all down to the bench impact but Ireland’s replacements played an important role.
It’s worth noting here that Ireland were forced to use their bench earlier in the game when Henshaw replaced Garry Ringrose during the latter’s first-half Head Injury Assessment. Some head coaches like to have a versatile outside back in their number 23 shirt but Farrell has often used a centre there.
Henshaw was almost immediately involved in helping to prevent Pieter-Steph du Toit from smashing over the Irish tryline.
This carry comes straight off the back of Damian de Allende’s powerful break through Johnny Sexton and Jamison Gibson-Park’s tackle attempt. It’s a situation in which the Boks often score.
As Henshaw enters the tackle, we can see that the Boks have a 2-on-1 as Eben Etzebeth latches onto du Toit.
Understandably, the Boks win the initial collision but Henshaw responds superbly. As James Lowe and then Peter O’Mahony hammer into the contest, Henshaw doesn’t simply fall back off his tackle attempt.
Instead, having made first contact up around the ball, Henshaw drops his tackle effort to du Toit’s left leg.
Henshaw clings on the help stop du Toit as Lowe manages to strip the ball clear of the Boks flanker. It bobbles into the Irish in-goal area, where it’s grounded by Rónan Kelleher for another Boks scrum.
But it’s an important first involvement for Henshaw, who helps prevent a try in the kind of spot the Boks usually score from.
10 minutes later, Henshaw has a lovely touch down the other end as he plays a slick return pass to Sexton on a loop play.
Jesse Kriel somehow manages to stop Sexton from scoring with a stretching tackle from behind, allowing Kolbe to jackal over the ball, so Henshaw needs to follow up with an effective clearout at the breakdown.
Henshaw’s effort is important in allowing Ireland to recycle the ball and they score through Mack Hansen on the very next phase.
Watching from the sideline, Ringrose celebrates before coming back on for Henshaw.
Henshaw would be called on again before the end, playing the closing 16 minutes of the game, but Farrell sent on some of his forwards straight after Kolbe’s second-half try.
Henderson replaced James Ryan in the second row, with Dan Sheehan on in place of Kelleher at hooker.
Henderson was particularly outstanding off the bench for Ireland, with his first involvement coming in a tackle on Boks centre Kriel.
It might seem basic enough, but this isn’t a spot most locks are all that comfortable in. Henderson shows good agility to ease off and re-connect with defenders either side of him, then make the tackle on his inside as Kriel attempts to step him.
Sheehan and Henderson soon link up at an Irish lineout.
Henderson took over the lineout calling from Ryan when he came onto the pitch and Ireland won all three of Sheehan’s throws on a night when there were obviously lots of wobbles in this area.
In this instance, Henderson calls a 5+1 lineout in which he moves to the front to win the ball ahead of Boks lock Jean Kleyn, with Sheehan nailing his first throw.
Henderson transfers to Josh van der Flier as he lands and Ireland use a maul break play from there, with the Irish openside shearing off and then finding Sheehan with an inside pass.
This play leaves Ireland in a nice position from which to kick and Boks second row RG Snyman is caught offside as he attempts to block Gibson-Park’s kick, meaning Ireland can kick the penalty down the left-hand touchline.
Sheehan hits O’Mahony at the ensuing lineout and though a clever counter-ruck from Kwagga Smith forces an Irish knock-on to end a promising attack, Ireland win their first scrum penalty of the night at the subsequent scrum.
The scrum is obviously a hugely collective endeavor, but Sheehan and Henderson would have been thrilled to help deliver this outcome for Ireland against a Boks pack that now has five of their Bomb Squad on the pitch.
It’s starting tighthead Frans Malberhe who is penalised for overextending in this instance and while Ireland loosehead Andrew Porter naturally gets the biggest congratulations from his team-mates, Sheehan helps to get that pressure onto Malherbe.
Sexton kicks three points from this scrum penalty to put Ireland back in front at 10-8 heading into the final quarter of the game.
From the restart, we get an example of Henderson’s power as he wins a collision against du Toit and Snyman to set up another good kicking position.
It’s an excellent carry into traffic that underlines how explosive Henderson is after a strong pre-season with Ireland.
Off the back of Gibson-Park’s box kick, Ireland have to defend and they’re delighted to force a turnover from the Boks attack with some hard-working, connected defence.
It’s a Boks knock-on here but Sheehan provides an example of a player working hard to stay connected in defence.
Initially, Sheehan has to worry about the pod of forwards just to the left of Boks out-half Manie Libbok.
But as Libbok instead passes out the back to Damian Willemse, Sheehan has to quickly shift his focus to the Boks fullback.
It’s really important that Sheehan gets to Willemse because the Boks have a 4-on-3 on the left edge.
Some hookers might struggle to catch up to Willemse here but Sheehan is mobile and quick.
Watch below as he accelerates to stay connected with Bundee Aki outside him.
Sheehan’s effort means Aki doesn’t have to bite in on Willemse, instead jockeying [or drifting] out one man onto de Allende.
With the initial glimpse of an opportunity now closing, de Allende moves to switch back under Willemse at a late stage just as the fullback plays a pass outside and de Allende knocks it on.
Willemse can’t mask his frustration.
Despite the positive defensive outcome, Ireland concede a penalty at the resulting scrum.
It’s a remarkably explosive effort from the Boks, who now have another of their Bomb Squad on in tighthead prop Trevor Nyakane.
Indeed, so explosive is the Boks drive that Ireland tighthead Tadhg Furlong is lifted up off the ground as Ox Nché and Bongi Mbonambi splinter in between him and Sheehan.
Fortunately for Ireland, Libbok misses his penalty attempt from this position.
Farrell responds by sending Bealham on for Furlong, Baird on for O’Mahony, and Henshaw for Ringrose. At the same time, the final member of the Boks’ bench forwards enters the contest, with replacement hooker Deon Fourie on.
Sheehan edges offside on the next Irish defensive set and Boks scrum-half Faf de Klerk had an attempt at goal from inside his own half but it’s well wide.
Again, Ireland make a change as Murray replaces Gibson-Park.
On the next Irish defensive set, Bealham makes his presence felt with a superb chop tackle.
It’s a venomous low tackle from Bealham, with Baird second man in, and completely kills any momentum in the Boks’ attack.
They have to kick the ball on the next phase, although it’s a success as Lowe knocks on in the air.
And so, the Boks scrum for a penalty. As we can see below, they leave the ball in and fight to find a weakness in the Irish scrum just minutes after dismantling Ireland at the last one. But we can see how rock solid Bealham is, with Henderson scrummaging behind him.
This is some of the most physically taxing work players can do on a rugby pitch, even if it’s only a few seconds. The pressure coming through Bealham’s head, shoulders, neck, back, and legs – every part of him, basically – is immense.
But he holds firm the battle and we can see that Nché actually goes to ground just as de Klerk moves the ball away from the scrum.
And Ireland come up with another win in this defensive passage as scrum-half Murray makes some important contributions. First, the Limerick man works hard to get to de Allende on first phase.
Murray’s initial job is to ensure there’s no space for de Klerk to snipe at, then he has to switch his focus to ball-carrier de Allende. We can see Murray jockey aggressively across the pitch to ensure that Sexton is not left one-on-one with de Allende.
It’s basic defence but Murray is good at this kind of stuff and he combines with Sexton for a fine tackle here. Murray’s job is not finished.
He rolls clear of the tackle to prevent giving up a penalty and is straight back on his feet assessing the next danger.
As highlighted below, Sheehan is calling for defenders to fold to Ireland’s left as Bealham makes another low tackle tackle on Jean Kleyn.
Murray responds swiftly as he accelerates over to that side of the breakdown…
… leaving him in the defensive line for the next Boks carry.
Tadhg Beirne is the primary tackler, going low on Nché as Murray joins as the second tackler up around the ball.
Murray instantly recognises the opportunity as support player Nyakane goes to ground after Beirne swings into him in his tackle. The Irish scrum-half shows a clear release before snapping over the ball.
It’s an excellent turnover and again, it’s something you don’t see from most scrum-halves.
It’s a clean turnover, rather than a penalty, and though Ireland’s first exit attempt through Lowe is partially blocked into touch by de Klerk, Henderson calmly wins another Sheehan lineout throw and Lowe blasts the ball down into the Boks’ half.
Murray is soon called upon defensively again as the Boks splinter through the defence, lock Snyman making a big linebreak that takes them up to the Irish 22.
Murray has been defending in the right-hand side of the backfield for Ireland, covering a possible kick into that area, and has to sprint across to his left as Snyman breaks.
Lowe does an excellent job of tackling Snyman and Murray keeps going all the way out to the left edge of the Irish defence.
Even with Murray working hard to get across, it’s still a numbers-down situation for Ireland and the scrum-half has to do a high-quality job in helping to prevent it from becoming a try-scoring situation for the Boks.
Watch below how Murray jockeys from one Boks attacker to the next to ensure that fullback Hugo Keenan isn’t left defending a 2-on-1.
Murray’s little celebration says it all as he does an excellent job of swimming beyond Kriel to get to du Toit, swatting his way past Kriel even as the Boks centre tries to block Murray’s path to du Toit.
Unfortunately for Ireland, the match officials rule that Murray played the ball last before it went into touch so it means more defending for Farrell’s side.
Having interestingly opted against using their maul earlier in the game, the Boks go to one of their biggest weapons and move forward before Beirne is penalised for changing his bind.
The Boks do end up going back to that penalty but not before Henderson puts a savage hit on Kwagga Smith while advantage is playing to allow Beirne to jackal.
The Boks kick the penalty into the right corner and with the game now into the 71st minute, it seems like their prime opportunity to take control of the scoreboard.
Sadly for the South Africans, a throwing error from Fourie – who has been playing in the back row in recent seasons but is now being asked to cover hooker – denies them the chance to maul for the tryline.
With the pressure on, Fourie’s throw is crooked. In that moment, the Boks might have regretted not having another out-and-out hooker in their squad.
And frustratingly for the Boks and their Bomb Squad, they follow it up with another set-piece error.
This time, they’re free-kicked for an early drive before the Irish feed.
Lowe clears upfield into touch on the Springboks’ 10-metre line.
With eight minutes of the game still left, Farrell decides to send Crowley on at out-half in place of Sexton, with Henderson taking over the captaincy.
The Boks make big inroads through the Irish midfield on their strike from the lineout but Ireland work hard to recover, with Murray among those to make good tackles.
It’s another Bealham chop that kills the South African momentum, with the Connacht prop showing scant regard for his own wellbeing by diving in at Nyakane’s lower legs.
Bealham gets his head into a dangerous position in front of Nykane’s legs but he’s successful in his goal of chopping him down, with Beirne jackaling to further slow the Boks’ possession.
Beirne has to be aggressively removed by a Snyman clearout, leaving Smith as the only Boks player over the ball. Caelan Doris takes the invitation by hammering in on the counter-ruck.
Doris’ effort drives Smith back into scrum-half de Klerk, with Porter flooding in behind Doris to finish the job on Smith.
Willemse joins the breakdown and the Boks somehow manage to retain the ball.
But having got back off the ground, Doris then cleverly grabs at du Toit’s right arm as he tries to pass the ball left.
Doris is on his feet and has returned to the back of the breakdown, so he’s entitled to play du Toit’s arm once he has lifted the ball off the ground.
It means du Toit’s pass goes to ground and Sheehan has a hack at it, missing and connecting with Snyman’s shin instead.
Van der Flier reacts well to wrestle the ball away from Snyman’s grasp and Beirne scoops it up before hammering a kick downfield.
Suddenly, the Boks are in retreat mode and Ireland flood forward on the chase.
Hansen leads the way but he is taken out by Fourie before he can attempt to tackle Kriel. It’s not called by the officials, meaning van der Flier has to stop Kriel.
It’s an excellent tackle by van der Flier and Henderson identifies the chance for another counter-ruck effort, particularly given that Boks out-half Libbok is the first support player there.
Henderson bats Libbok out of the way and then manhandles Fourie as well, lifting him back up the pitch.
Van der Flier has worked back to his feet and he, Doris, and Beirne follow Henderson through to complete the turnover.
As we see below, there’s a brief prospect of Ireland scoring straight off the turnover but Baird can’t hold Murray’s pass and the window of opportunity closes as Crowley scampers back to gather the ball.
As they tend to do, the Boks recover their defensive shape swiftly and start to regain metres in the tackle. Ireland lose momentum and out-half Crowley decides to drop into the pocket.
It’s a ballsy call from the 23-year-old given that Ireland aren’t playing penalty advantage here, but he senses that his team is running out of attacking steam and backs himself to take the shot.
As Beirne carries, we can see Crowley giving Murray the call.
Murray fires the pass back to Crowley on the next phase but the out-half can’t get his drop kick away cleanly as de Allende does a brilliant job of getting a partial block on it.
The ball drops about 10 metres short of the Boks line in an apparent escape thanks to de Allende’s excellent work, but then Willemse makes an error that proves very costly.
The Boks fullback either doesn’t realise that de Allende has got a hand to the ball or forgets that the last touch on the ball being from the Boks means there’s the threat of a five-metre scrum. Whatever the reason, Willemse allows the ball to bobble dead.
And so, Ireland get the five-metre scrum.
With just over five minutes left, Farrell sends on his final bench player as Kilcoyne replaces Porter.
Henderson gathers the Ireland players for a collective deep breath and a quick word of encouragement.
When play resumes, Ireland win a scrum penalty.
There’s a reset initially as referee Ben O’Keeffe warns Bealham not to lean his head onto Nché’s shoulder before the ‘set’ call.
When they go a second time, O’Keeffe is unhappy with the lack of stability from the Boks’ front row before Murray’s feed.
It’s the second time they’ve been unstable, having been free-kicked for similar near the Irish line after Fourie’s crooked throw.
The tee is called for and though it’s a gimme for Crowley so close to the posts, he calmly allows the shot clock to tick all the way down to just three seconds before he actually kicks.
That eats up more precious seconds for a Boks response to Ireland moving 13-8 ahead.
As the South Africans restart, there are just under three minutes left to go but, agonisingly for Irish fans, the Boks do get one more chance.
Initially, Baird does a good job of claiming Libbok’s poor restart.
And then Crowley produces an outstanding tactical kick as he finds grass behind the Springboks, who have to retreat into their 22 to gather the ball.
Ireland follow up that kick with some solid defence, ending with the Bundee Aki breakdown turnover highlighted in this piece.
Still, there are two minutes left and so, Lowe blasts another kick down into the Boks 22.
And this time, Ireland err in their discipline as Sheehan gives up penalty advantage while jackaling for the ball, then Henderson is penalised at the next breakdown for going off his feet.
Libbok kicks down the right and with 79:49 on the clock, Fourie throws into the lineout a few metres from Ireland’s tryline. Henderson competes at the tail.
Defensive teams have to decide between staying on the ground for an organised maul defence or competing for a lineout steal in the air in these situations and Ireland opt for the latter, but are unsuccessful.
That means their maul defence is less organised than might have been the case, with the Boks getting a head start in setting their own maul.
Bealham does a good job of buying time as he waits for the Boks to land and then drives through back lifter Nyakane to destabilise them.
Still, the Boks get forward momentum and Henderson has to react well after landing himself.
He swings his right arm up and over lineout catcher du Toit to target the ball, which is now being carried by back back row Marco van Staden after the transfer from du Toit upon landing.
This is vital from Henderson because it adds immediate stress for the Boks, who have to focus on protecting the ball, and prevents them from transferring it further back through the maul to the late-arriving players like hooker Fourie.
Meanwhile, Beirne has swung up the far side of the maul.
Beirne maintains his bind with Boks lock Kleyn all the time so even though it looks weird, he hasn’t clearly infringed.
Even when he ends up in the position below, having swung around onto the Boks’ side, Beirne is still clinging onto Kleyn and the match officials are happy he hasn’t changed his bind.
While Henderson and Beirne are causing havoc around the ball, there is a concerted effort from Bealham, Sheehan, and Kilcoyne to take the Boks’ forward momentum away by driving them out towards the touchline.
They join from legal positions before ending up on that sidewards angle and, again, O’Keeffe is content with their work.
But the Boks manage to get themselves moving forward in the next split second as they swivel their maul to the left-hand side of du Toit, which means that Henderson [yellow below] ends up being shed over on the far side.
Kleyn goes with Henderson on that side, meaning Beirne loses his bind with Kleyn, but as we see above he is now in the heart of the Boks maul and is going nowhere.
He hasn’t been warned away at any stage so he does the smart thing by reinforcing his effort to wrap van Standen up with the ball buried in the middle of the maul. It’s what any good South African lock would do in his position.
As Beirne is busy there, the Boks maul is still going forward and the Irish backs get involved. Lowe joins from the Irish tryline but Aki’s angle of entry is questionable as he powers in from the near side of the maul.
As Crowley lends his weight too, Aki drives towards the touchline, arguably lifting the leg of Kriel, who had joined the Boks’ drive earlier.
But again, O’Keeffe has a perfect view and is happy with the Irish efforts.
With that shove from the near side, Beirne piling his weight down on the ball, legs tangling everywhere, and bodies coming to ground on the far side, the entire maul comes crashing down just a metre out from the Irish tryline.
O’Keeffe can’t see the ball on the near side and he shouts, “Where is it?” as he swings to the far side in a bid to spot it.
A full four seconds pass before Boks replacement scrum-half Cobus Reinach, who is on his knees so not entitled to play the ball, can dig it out.
Just as Reinach moves the ball back to de Allende, O’Keeffe sounds his whistle and says, “No, it hasn’t come out, turnover. That’s time.”
20 seconds later, Zombie is booming into the Parisian night sky.
