Ireland stun Springboks with superb display
Sunday 9 November 2014 08:09, UK
Paul Wallace was delighted to be proven wrong as Ireland beat South Africa on Saturday.
The former Ireland and Lions prop had major concerns over Ireland’s new look centre pairing of Jared Payne and Rob Henshaw as well as doubting the Irish forwards could match the physicality of the Springbok behemoths.
However Ireland produced one of their best performances ever under Joe Schmidt to record a famous 29-15 win over the team ranked second in the world.
The win was built on guts and determination, a superb defence and some exceptionally clever tactics that had Wallace smiling like a Cheshire cat.
“I am going to be eating the happiest of humble pie here because I thought Ireland would lose by at least a score,” admitted Wallace.
“There were so many worries going into this game – the first was the scrum. Would Mike Ross last 50-60 minutes? He was still running around at the 75 minute mark. Then there was Rhys Ruddock coming in at the last minute – but he was right up there with Jonny Sexton for man of the match.
“Then the centre partnership – Henshaw’s intelligence and also the physicality of Payne really came to the fore. I had all theses questions surrounding Ireland and they all stood up. Then you had your big men there as well, your Heaslips and O’Connells.
“I think that this is Joe Schmidt's best ever victory for Ireland and that is with the Six Nations under his belt.”
Sobering loss
Former Springbok back Thinus Delport had less to smile about and said the loss would have shown Heyneke Meyer just how much work they need to do ahead of the 2015 World Cup which will be held in England.
“This is a realisation that it is a different game in the northern hemisphere,” said Delport.
“The game approach is so different over here and it would have really sobered them up. Physically this was a massive challenge.
"They could not get over the gain line; every time they carried the ball the Irish were in their face and put them back. The Springboks did not get their driving maul going at all, they are going to have to work very hard to recover from this.”
