Skipper Peter O’Mahony lauded the world champion Springboks’ enterprising play and width on attack after South Africa exacted revenge over Ireland on Saturday.

A penalty try from a massive scrum in the final two minutes saw the Boks clinch a 27-20 result and first victory against the Irish since 2016 in the series opener at a sold-out Loftus Versfeld.

There were times where the South Africans were sublime and while they were guilty of several unforced errors, especially in the second half, when they did it right they were spectacular.

For Kurt-Lee Arendse’s first-half try, the Boks kept the ball through several phases and varied angles of attack, with a strong run by Pieter-Steph du Toit on the right flank committing several Irish defenders.

When the ball was worked back to the left, Kriel exploited the space and a final pass by Kolisi later, Arendse cut inside two defenders to score.

Bok flyer Cheslin Kolbe struck on 65 minutes, kicking the ball forward to score after James Lowe had acrobatically prevented the ball going out of play.

Scrumhalf Conor Murray and fellow Ireland replacement Ryan Baird dotted down, either side of the Bok penalty try, in a frenetic finish. O’Mahony, though, said his troops were initially surprised by the flair from the Boks.

ALSO: We know it’s not finished – Siya

“We knew it was going to be very difficult here, an unbelievable Test match,” the veteran flanker was quoted in a SuperSport post-match interview.

“A couple of errors that put us under pressure, and I thought South Africa’s attack with their width and stuff was a bit of a change-up. They attacked really well.

“We got stuck in and fought hard until the end, and we’ll go away and look at a few things. But a good Test match.

“With teams at this level it’s always the fine margins and we probably missed a few things attack-wise in the first half and they caught us out with some great attack.

“Defensively we could’ve been a bit better but it’s all little margins.”

Photo: @Springboks/Twitter

The post Ireland caught by Bok ‘change-up’ appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.

Src: sarugbymag.co.za