Phantom penalty fails to save Irish

The luck of the Irish in that respect reinforced the popular notion that 35 years after their last win over the Springboks maybe this was going to be their day. Given such a generous early hand, the suspicion was that they would emulate the French and the English in sending South Africa the same way as New Zealand and Australia.

It was all a bit too good to be true, although, 10 minutes from time, with the match locked at 18-18, there was still a fighting chance of a once-in-a-lifetime result from the weekend: Six Nations 3, TriNations 0.

Their early contribution to a match of some quality, despite its helter- skelter nature, deserved something better than conceding 13 points without reply in the first half-hour.

But two Percy Montgomery penalties and a typical Joost van der Westhuisen try, claimed from no more than two yards after Andre Vos had burst from the back of a scrum, put Ireland on the back foot

Given a little encouragement by O'Gara's 'miss', the Irish rallied behind Keith Wood's battering-ram lead-ership and the Springboks were more than grateful to reach half-time hanging on at 13-10.

Then, seven minutes before the break, Ireland had a narrow squeak over another penalty incident, with Morrison again at the centre of it.

When Montgomery's kick bounced in-goal off the out-side of a post, the ball hit the touch judge as he tried to take evasive action, leaving Pieter Rossouw to touch down. Lander, quite prop-erly, disallowed the try, opting instead to give the Boks a five-metre scrum.

Vos still signalled for the video referee, only to be told: 'We haven't got one.'

That came as almost as much of a surprise as an Irish revival based on real style behind the scrum to go with their traditional fury up front.

If the Irish went out looking like Celtic in a green-and-white change strip, then the Boks ought to have taken the hint that the hosts, under backs coach Eddie O'Sullivan, are developing real footballers.

Brian O'Driscoll, the most coveted of the breed, treated his adoring public to another outstanding performance, better by some distance than anything produced by any other British or Irish centre during this month of cascading Test matches. He sent Rob Henderson off on the run which created the first try for another potential Irish Lion, Dennis Hickie.

O'Driscoll, outpacing the entire Springbok cover in pursuit of his own chip, would have scored another three minutes later had the ball not run dead. As a painful reminder of his fallability, his fumbled pass in midfield was all the Spring-boks needed for Corne Krige to make him pay with a try in the corner.

Ireland countered with a breath-taking try of textbook perfection. O'Driscoll's subtlety unleashed Hickie on the loop to draw the full back and put Tyrone Howe clear on the left.

Ireland stayed level until the last seven minutes and, by the time the South Africans had emphasised their technical superiority with two late scores, they had stretched the absurd replacement law beyond credibility by recalling Robbie Fleck, almost half an hour after substituting him.

By the end, as if to acknowledge that the better team won, a huge rainbow appeared to coincide with the Rainbow Nation's decisive third try.

A seven-man Welsh delegation in the stand will be looking for something over the rainbow in Cardiff next Sunday.