JIMMY O’BRIEN WAS supposed to be on the wing for Ireland A last night but he ended up playing 53 impressive minutes for the senior Ireland side tonight as he made his Test debut at outside centre in their 19-16 win over the Springboks.
The 25-year-old Leinster man was sprung from the bench in the 27th minute when injury forced Stuart McCloskey off and Garry Ringrose shifted to inside centre.
O’Brien settled into the game with a couple of left-footed kicks – a useful weapon for Ireland to add – and he grew from there.
His slaloming run helped Ireland to win the penalty that led to Josh van der Flier’s maul try in the second half and he generally looked to the manor born. His composure was perhaps the most impressive aspect of all, with the Kildare man looking calm throughout as he slotted seamlessly into Ireland’s systems.
“His versatility is pretty unique,” said Ireland captain Johnny Sexton after the win over the Boks. “He’s played 10 for Leinster as well, he’s a fantastic footballer.
“We thought he wasn’t fazed, but he told us he was sh**ting it after the game. He came on and was straight into it. He knew what was going on, he knew everything, he just did his role very well.
“Fair play to him, most people get their first cap in a smaller game. He gets it against the world champions. What an amazing performance from him.”
O’Brien was one part of an impactful effort from the Irish replacements, with scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park hugely influential after replacing the injured Conor Murray before half time.
“I was gutted for Conor,” said Sexton. “He was really good for the 30 minutes and had to come off with an injury on his 100th cap, but he can be unbelievably proud of the milestone.”
Tighthead prop Finlay Bealham was excellent after replacing Tadhg Furlong at half-time, while Cian Healy, Rob Herring, Kieran Treadwell, and Jack Conan added to an immense Irish performance up front.
It was a real squad effort as Ireland had to dig deep against the physical onslaught from the Springboks. Sexton said this win is right up there with some of the best Irish victories he has been part of at the Aviva Stadium.
“We spoke about it being a massive test for us before the game and you can’t say different after it,” said Sexton. “We didn’t play our best rugby but that’s also a very pleasing thing. Maybe a few years ago we would have crumbled or not shown the guts we did there.
“It was very pleasing for lots of reasons. The guys coming in for their first game of the season and some lads had barely played but they trained very well during a mad old week with nearly 50 players knocking about. It was unique but they are the tests that he [Andy Farrell] has been putting us under in New Zealand and now this week.”
This win over the reigning world champions will undoubtedly add to Ireland’s growing self-belief.
And it is surely a psychological advantage ahead of next year’s meeting with the Boks in the pool stage of the World Cup.
“The fact that they were fully stacked… they were obviously missing [Handré] Pollard who would be their main 10,” said Sexton. “That makes a difference to them but we have seen what they can throw at us and we dealt with it well at times and not at others.
“We will learn from it for the World Cup and I’m sure they will as well. I thought we were a pass away from getting a bit of space on the edges at times and we will have to learn from that.”
The physicality of tonight’s contest was massive and that might be the most pleasing aspect for Ireland – they showed that they can live with what has been seen as the biggest and most powerful team in the world.
“It always is against them,” said Sexton of the scale of the physical challenge. “They test you in ways not many teams do. England or France are the closest, but South Africa are pretty big men across the park, pretty powerful, fast, so we stood up to them well at times.
“The boys just kept fronting up, the pack were outstanding and the centres, some of their D was amazing. We gritted it out, and that’s a very pleasing thing to say after playing South Africa.”
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