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Ciaran Frawley coolly landed a last-gasp drop goal as Ireland weathered a second-half storm to pull off a stunning 25-24 victory in Durban and secure a 1-1 series draw against South Africa.
Frawley stepped off the bench to split the posts in dramatic fashion with the final action of a thrilling encounter at Kings Park Stadium following a similar effort just 10 minutes earlier.
Andy Farrell’s side looked set to slip to an agonising defeat to the back-to-back world champions after Conor Murray’s try helped reward a ferocious first-half display with a 16-6 lead.
Flawless fly-half Handre Pollard slotted eight penalties to turn the contest in the Springboks’ favour on the back of their 27-20 triumph last weekend in Pretoria.
But Frawley sensationally added to 14 points from Ireland number 10 Jack Crowley to secure a statement success from Farrell’s 50th Test as head coach.
Ireland secured a 1-1 series draw against South Africa (Themba Hadebe/AP)
The extraordinary twist came at the end of an undisciplined second period from Ireland during which stand-in captain Caelan Doris was sin-binned.
Victory was just Ireland’s second on South African soil and even more impressive given they were without five of their first-choice stars after injured pair Dan Sheehan and Bundee Aki joined tour absentees Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan on the list of unavailable talent.
Farrell dropped skipper Peter O’Mahony to the bench as part of four personnel changes from the opening Test and warned his players to expect South Africa to be “twice as good” as seven days ago.
The hosts stuck with an unchanged 23, including selecting the most experienced starting XV in the nation’s history, following a first success over the Irish since 2016.
Springboks full-back Willie le Roux was forced off by a head injury, while team-mates Franco Mostert and Eben Etzebeth were left with bloodied faces during an intense opening in which Crowley calmly slotted a penalty.
Ireland’s physical start was deservedly rewarded with a superb 14th-minute try.
Slick interplay between Jamie Osborne and Robbie Henshaw opened up the hosts’ defence, leaving scrum-half Murray to add to his score in Pretoria with another diving finish.
A bruising encounter showed little sign of relenting and Ireland prop Andrew Porter was left bloodied for the second successive week after Pollard’s penalty put South Africa on the scoreboard.
The impressive away side dominated the opening third of the match.
Yet they were reliant on alert full-back Osborne producing a crucial last-ditch tackle just metres from the try line to preserve their lead after Kwagga Smith charged down a Crowley kick to race clear.
Pollard and Crowley exchanged further penalties, while Doris was held up on the line by Pieter-Steph du Toit moments before the break.
The Six Nations champions should really have turned their territory into a second try but had to settle for the consolation of another three points from the boot of Crowley to end a fierce first half 10 points in front.
South Africa returned fired up and moved within four points following two more Pollard penalties, the second of which was converted after stand-in skipper Doris was yellow-carded for a crocodile roll on Malcolm Marx.
Poor discipline was piling pressure on Ireland and proved extremely costly during a monumental shift in momentum.
The Springboks led for the first time in the 58th minute following Pollard’s sixth penalty of the evening and then quickly restored the lead through two more kicks from the same player after Crowley’s boot briefly stemmed the one-way traffic.
Ireland remained in touching distance going into the closing stages and, after again being held up on the line, reduced the deficit to just two points thanks to Frawley’s fine drop goal from distance.
Farrell’s men were on the verge of suffering a second successive loss for the first time since the 2021 Six Nations before Frawley repeated the trick in a fascinating climax to stun South Africa.