International
Boks win but come up short in title chase in Durban
The Springboks finished the Castle Lager Rugby Championship like they started it, with a win – this time by 38-21 (halftime 17-7) over Argentina – but they failed to score the points needed to dethrone New Zealand as champions of the Southern Hemisphere, in front of a packed house of 45982 people at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban.
After the All Blacks beat the Wallabies by 40-14 in Auckland on Saturday morning, the Boks had to win with a bonus point and a points’ difference of at least 39, and they failed on both accounts, but still finished the competition with four wins from six games, the same as New Zealand.
The Boks dominated the first half and built up a well-deserved 17-7 lead but Argentina never allowed the home side to run away with proceedings and managed to stay in the fight throughout, although their discipline got the better of them as illustrated by the four yellow cards dished out to the visitors for an assortment of transgressions, while the Boks had two men sent to the sin bin in a stop-start affair that was played in tricky conditions.
Experienced lock Eben Etzebeth thought he had scored when he went over in the 10th minute, however, he received the ball from an offside position in the maul and the try was ruled out.
Not long thereafter, Pumas flank Marcos Kremer was yellow carded for offside play with the Boks on the attack. The green and gold jerseys finally got onto the scoreboard through hard-working No 8 Jasper Wiese, who had the simple task to dot the ball down from a powerful Bok scrum.
Jasper Wiese was the Man of the Match and scored his first Test try in Durban.
Steyn’s conversion handed the home side a well-deserved 7-0 lead at the halfway mark of the opening half. With the Boks making Argentina sweat on defence and piling on the pressure upfront, Juan Martin Gonzalez was also sent to the sin bin for repeated offsides, while Willie le Roux was held up on the whitewash in the next movement.
However, the South Africans kept piling on the pressure and it was no surprise when skipper Siya Kolisi went over following another powerful lineout maul to hand his side a 14-0 lead.
Steyn, playing at flyhalf for the Boks for the first time since 2008, then slotted a long range penalty kick to make it 17-0.
However, the South Americans scored their first try on the stroke of halftime through scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou, which Emiliano Boffelli converted to make the score at the break 17-7.
The Pumas came back strongly in the second half and Juan Martín González got their second try seven minutes after the restart as he raced past Le Roux to score out wide. When Boffelli slotted the difficult conversion, he narrowed the deficit to 17-14.
Both teams then made numerous changes, with the Springboks sending on Duane Vermeulen and Kwagga Smith, amongst others, in an effort to continue their dominance upfront. The Bok forwards then forced their first penalty try as they mauled powerfully towards the Argentine goal line, and Jeronimo de la Fuente was issued a yellow card his indiscretion during that movement.
Kurt-Lee Arendse seals the deal in Durban.
Etzebeth was then yellow carded for dangerous play, with both sides now playing with 14 men and with rain falling down, the Boks had to fight hard to keep their 24-14 lead intact.
However, the Boks were then down to 13 men when replacement scrumhalf Faf de Klerk was shown yellow for a cynical offence, which stopped a goal-bound Argentine maul.
Matias Moroni then scored out side, with Boffelli’s conversion pulling the Pumas back to within three points and time running out on the clock, but the Boks still had some gas left in the tank and got themselves into a strong field position.
Launching yet another maul at the Argentinean tryline, Pumas reserve prop Joel Sclavi also got his marching orders after trying to stop a maul illegally, and the Boks were awarded a second penalty try in the process, which allowed the South Africans some breathing space with the score now 31-21 in their favour and less than 10 minutes left on the clock.
With time up, replacement wing Kurt-Lee Arendse was sent over for the Boks’ fifth try – and his second in only his third Test – with speedsters Makazole Mapimpi and Canan Moodie both featuring prominently. Steyn added the extras for the Springboks to record their fourth win of the campaign.
Scorers:
Springboks 38 (17) – Tries: Jasper Wiese, Siya Kolisi, Penalty tries (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversions: Frans Steyn (3). Penalty goal: Steyn.
Argentina 21 (7) – Tries: Gonzalo Bertranou, Juan Martín González, Matías Moroni. Conversions: Emiliano Boffelli (3).
Content & Images from – South Africa Rugby
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
Squad Update | Munster Prepare For All Blacks XV At Thomond
