Rugby | Frawley lands two late drop goals to seal the deal for Ireland v Springboks

A strong start by Ireland saw them run up a 10-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes, with a try by Conor Murray and a conversion and penalty goal by Jack Crowley.

The Boks on the other hand, had a miserable start to the game, losing Willie le Roux to a head knock two minutes in and Franco Mostert with a leg injury 15 minutes later. The Irish won the early kicking dual as well and had South Africa under real pressure in the opening 20 minutes.

The Boks' scrum worked well for them once they found their feet and from such a strong effort, Handre Pollard kicked a penalty goal, after the Irish collapsed the scrum.

Two more scrum penalties gave the Boks front foot ball and the worked their way back into the match. They had a couple of strong attacks close to the half-time whistle, but the last pass went astray or even worse, lost a lineout on their own ball.

Pollard kicked a second 34 minutes in after yet another Irish scrum collapse, but Ireland got three back when Pieter-Steph du Toit was pinged for a silly foul two minutes later, and on the stroke of half-time, Crowley extended the lead to 10 points with his third penalty goal when the Springboks went offside at a ruck near their own tryline.

The second half belonged to the kickers, as Pollard added six more penalty goals and Crowley one more before Frawley landed two late drop goals to seal the deal for the visitors.

More to follow...

Scorers:

Springboks 24 (6) - Penalty goals: Handre Pollard (8).

Ireland 25 (16) - Try: Conor Murray. Conversion: Jack Crowley. Penalty goals: Crowley (4). Drop goals: Ciaran Frawley (2).

Handre Pollard kicked all the Boks' points in Durban.

Source: SpringBok Rugby