South Africa overpower ill-disciplined Ireland 24-13

DUBLIN :South Africa continued their steamrolling November tour with a 24-13 win over an ill-disciplined Ireland who played part of the game with 12 men after suffering one 20-minute red card and three yellows in the first half alone on Saturday.

The back-to-back world champions, who had lost four of their last five games to Ireland and on their last three visits to Dublin, led early through a Damian Willemse try with Cobus Reinach adding a second after James Ryan's red card.

Ireland then lost both flyhalves, Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley, and prop Andrew Porter to yellow cards during nine minutes of persistent fouling and even though Dan Sheehan struck back, an inevitable penalty try put South Africa 19-7 in charge at the break.

A second-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu try ensured it was four wins out of four on tour for the top-ranked Springboks, with a final game to come against Wales. The defeat was Ireland's second in a mixed November series.

THREE IRISH YELLOW CARDS IN NINE MINUTES

"It's always a tough outing against the Irish, we knew it was going to be a grind today," South African player of the match Malcolm Marx said in a pitchside interview.

"The character that they (Ireland) showed was immense, having 12 guys on the field and still keeping us out for a good number of minutes just shows that character."

Ireland were prised open by the visitors first attack with an increasingly trademark mixture of forward strength and slick passing resulting in Willemse's one-handed touchdown in the corner.

The Springboks had to win with 14 men in their last two games and had hearts in mouths again on six minutes when flyhalf Feinberg-Mngomezulu hit Tommy O'Brien with a shoulder to the head and can count himself lucky to have been