Best Boks v Ireland: Scrum Beasts Feast

Going into the colossal clash, the one achievement that eluded the current golden generation of Boks was beating Ireland in their backyard.

Their desire was apparent as they physically dominated the hosts at the Aviva Stadium to get the monkey off their back and become the first Bok team to get one over Ireland in Dublin since 2012. 

With the Boks in beast mode, the Irish simply couldn’t live with the back-to-back world champions, conceding no less than four yellow cards in the first half, one of which was upgraded to a 20-minute red card, and a fifth yellow in the second stanza.

A try by Damian Willemse in the fourth minute gave the Boks the perfect start, with a sniping score by Cobus Reinach in the 35th minute and a penalty try just before halftime handing the Boks a 19-7 lead at the break.

When Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu ran in a superb solo try to make it 24-10 in the 46th minute, it looked as if South Africa were going to put 40 or 50 points past the Irish, and they probably should have.

However, Andy Farrell’s men deserve credit for the fight they showed in the final 30 minutes, keeping the Boks out on a number of occasions where it looked certain they would score.

Nevertheless, it was a sweet victory for Rassie Erasmus and his charges, who hammered home the fact that they’re the No. 1 team in the world.

Our top three Springbok standouts were:

Thomas du Toit and Wilco Louw

The Boks’ key area of dominance was the scrum. They utterly destroyed Ireland in the set piece from start to finish. To call it a scrummaging masterclass would be too poetic: it was a massacre.

Given the lack of success they’ve had against the Irish in recent years, the Boks revelled in their demolition job. They were ruthless, either burying or blasting away the hosts’ hopeless front rows, owning the starters, and back-ups.

If it had been a mixed martial arts fight, the referee would’ve stepped in and attempted to drag the Bok pack off their Irish victims as they wailed on them to stop the beatdown.

Du Toit spearheaded the mauling, setting the tone from the very first scrum, and Louw continued the destruction when he replaced him just before halftime. The two tightheads, along with the other Bok front-rankers, feasted like they were at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The former systematically broke the Irish down and the latter delivered the hammer blows, first helping power the Boks to a penalty try and then forcing Paddy McCarthy to concede a yellow card in the 62nd minute. They were good in general play, too, especially Du Toit, who seized a crucial early breakdown penalty.

Malcolm Marx

Marx continued his rich vein of form and left the Aviva with the Man of the Match and World Player of the Year awards.

Assisting in the scrum dominance, ensuring the lineout was a weapon and working his socks off in open play, including being a menace at the breakdown, the veteran delivered in his core duties and then some.

He and Dan Sheehan are widely regarded as the best hookers in world rugby, and Marx showed he’s numero uno by outclassing his rival in front of the Irish ace’s home fans.