South Africa hold off Ireland in bruising first Test

Ireland fell short in a ferocious Test in Pretoria, as world champions South Africa ended their losing streak against Andy Farrell's side.

A flurry of tries in the final 15 minutes puffed up the scoreboard to 27-20, but for the opening hour this was a tense, and relentless Test match rugby.

When Kurt-Lee Arendse ran in a South African try just two minutes in, it looked like Ireland were in for a long night, but led by the outstanding Caelan Doris, they always stayed in touch with Rassie Erasmus’ side.

While they remained in touch, they couldn’t get their noses in front.

The turning point came just short of the hour mark when James Lowe galloped down the touchline to score a brilliant try after some quick thinking from Craig Casey launched a counter-attack.

Had the try stood, it would have levelled the game, and given Jack Crowley the chance to kick Ireland ahead, but the score was ruled out after a particularly strict TMO call deemed he had played the ball off his feet.

Lowe was a central character across the 80 minutes. In the first half it was his brilliant offload to Jamie Osborne that allowed the debutant score a try on his debut.

Unfortunately for Lowe, two errors in the final quarter proved decisive. First, his attempts to keep the ball in touch backfired when it landed kindly for Cheslin Kolbe to score, while he later mishandled a restart to give the Boks a scrum, from which they earned a penalty try.

While Ireland were just about second best, they did have their chances, and late tries for Conor Murray and Ryan Baird ensured there would be just one score between the sides heading into the final minute.

But South Africa are world champions for a reason, holding out for a first win over Ireland since 2016.

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