Ireland fans will be left feeling like they just missed out following a great second half performance from Ireland in the second test against South Africa.

Ireland started well with an early try but a mistake filled first half gave South Africa a good deal of the posession and they were by far the superior side, only a magnificent game from David Wallace kept them in the game. A late Ronan O’Gara drop goal gave the South Africans a 10 point advantage at half time, going in at the break 20 points to 10.

Early in the second half, against the run of play the Boks put over a penalty to go 23 points to 10 ahead, but Ireland then finally decided to show the Southern Hemisphere what they are capable of, with a running game playing to their strengths for the second half. Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan took a gamble, taking off the under performing half back combination of Stringer and O’Gara and brought on Humphreys and Easterby. The decision was the right one with Humphreys linking up extremely well with O’Driscoll. Ireland managed to score a converted try but it wasn’t enough. A late penalty from Percy Montgomery sealed the victory with South Africa winning 23 points to 17.

Irish fans will be wondering why their team only decided to play in the second half of the second test. If only the team could have performed for the other 120 minutes of the Test series it could have been far more memorable for Ireland. Ireland will however have the chance for revenge in the Winter with South Africa making the return trip to Ireland in November.

The Ireland loss of the series see’s them fall to sixth, behind South Africa in the IRB World Rankings.

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