Ireland see off Boks

Ireland claimed a third successive win over South Africa in Dublin with a 15-10 victory at Croke Park.

Jonathan Sexton kicked five of six penalties for all Ireland's points, as the Grand Slam champions conquered the world champions.

Schalk Burger scored the only try of the match for the Springboks, who ended their long season on a low note with just one win in five matches on their northern hemisphere tour.

For most of the match the Springboks were on the back foot, strung out in a defensive line to repel the swarms of attacking Irishmen.

It was to their enormous credit that their line went unbreached and as expected they dominated the Irish scrum, in a match which in terms of handling rugby started brightly then faded in the Dublin mist .

But it was thrilling as a spectacle throughout, right up to the tension-wracked final play of the game.

Springboks fly-half Morne Steyn, who booted a conversion and drop-goal, missed three penalties and other than Burger's try the tourists' only real tactic was to bombard man of the match Rob Kearney with kicks.

Tempers flared with just two minutes on the clock with only a warning from referee Nigel Owens interrupting play.

Throughout the first quarter the Springboks' line-out was being heavily disrupted by Ireland, who attacked the breakdown powerfully.

Quick thinking from Stephen Ferris forced one turnover that allowed Jamie Heaslip and Tommy Bowe to break free and the Springboks, in disarray, infringed.

Sexton stepped up to land a long-range penalty but the tourists' response was emphatic with Burger galloping over for a 16th-minute try.

Celebration

Back-pedalling furiously at a scrum, Ireland conceded a penalty that the Springboks used to build pressure before Steyn sent Burger over and then added the conversion, but it was Burger's celebrations which enraged the Dublin crowd.

The man banned for eight weeks for eye-gouging the Lions' Luke Fitzgerald celebrated by hoofing the ball into the stands, provoking a chorus of jeers.

The frantic pace continued as Brian O'Driscoll somehow burrowed through a mass of South African jerseys and Ireland poured forward with Heaslip and Ferris making wrecking-ball runs.

Crucially, however, a three-minute stint spent pounding away at the Springbok line went unrewarded when the Irish were penalised for holding on beneath the posts.

Steyn booted a drop goal to rub their noses in it and despite controlling territory and possession, Ireland found themselves trailing 10-3.

Showing superb composure, Sexton slotted a tricky penalty to reduce the deficit and then watched as Steyn squandered six points by missing two long-rage kicks.

Another penalty was conceded at the scrum and once again Steyn missed the kick, though it was a penalty that tested his range to the limit in the moisture-laden Dublin air.

Morale

Ireland's scrum suffered its biggest implosion yet, but they restored morale with two Sexton penalties that nudged them 12-10 ahead.

Winger Keith Earls was bundled into touch in the left corner by Steyn and JP Pietersen as the Irish onslaught continued.

South Africa, showing clear signs of stress beneath the relentless pressure, conceded another penalty but this time Sexton missed - his first misfire in 12 kicks at goal in an Ireland jersey.

Substitute Ruan Pienaar struck the uprights with a penalty for the visitors and then Sexton fired over the crucial penalty to stretch the lead to five points.

South Africa managed to launch one final assault as Tendai Mtawarira rampaged down the right wing, but the Ireland defence held firm under ferocious pressure in the shadow of their own sticks.