Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi was left to rue the poor start of his side, and the physically superior performance of Ireland as the visitors claimed a last-gasp 25-24 victory in the second Test at Kings Park, in Durban, on Saturday.
Trailing 16-6 at the break, South Africa scored all their points on the night through the boot of flyhalf Handre Pollard.
Though South Africa claimed the lead for the first time just before the hour mark, Ireland kept pace with their hosts as it seemed like the contest may have been slipping away.
Two moments of brilliance from Ireland centre Ciaran Frawley in the form of a pair of perfectly-slotted drop goals, though, saw the visitors claim a historic win to draw the two-match series.
Siya Kolisi thanks the South African fans who supported the Springboks in Pretoria and Durban! 👏![CDATA[]]>🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦#RSAvIRE pic.twitter.com/HGBLwvfopg
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 13, 2024
Ireland set the tone
“They started like we started last week. We weren’t as intense as we were last week. You can’t go behind as far as we did in the first half. We did well to fight back and the guys on the bench, they came and made an impact,” said Kolisi after the match.
“But the way we started, it wasn’t good enough.”
Kolisi admitted that Ireland were the superior side.
“Physically they dominated us. Physically they started with high intensity and we just tried to keep up with them. Last week we set the tone, this week we definitely didn’t.”
Springbok prop Ox Nche, meanwhile, lamented his side’s poor tactical choices.
“It was a bit disappointing. A few small things cost us the game. We should have backed ourselves more with the ball instead of kicking a lot of possession away. We were defending most of the game. They actually kept the ball more and went through the phases.”