Ireland fell to a second Autumn Nations series defeat after world champions South Africa triumphed 24-13 in one of the most bizarre test matches that Lansdowne Road has ever hosted.
Head coach Andy Farrell described the evening as ‘chaotic’ as he was forced to watch his side play at one point with just twelve players.
James Ryan saw yellow 20th minute after he caught Malcom Marx high following a clear out, but following a bunker review.
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Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley and Andrew Porter would also see yellow and all before half-time as referee Matthew Carley showed Ireland no mercy as the Springboks flexed their muscle to annihilate the Irish set-piece and force their hosts into all sort of errors.
Indeed, over the course of the 80 minutes, Ireland would concede an astonishing 13 scrum penalties.
Ireland put in a might effort against the Springboks but came up short in the end. PICTURE: Brian Lawless/PA
Rookie prop Paddy McCarthy picked up a yellow card in the second half, again following the concession of multiple scrum penalties on a night that saw South Africa claim a first win on Irish soil since 2012.
It was a horrid night for the Irish scrum but Farrell thinks that his front eight are still a match for anyone in world rugby.
“I mean if you look at our scrum over the last five or six years it’s been world-class at times,” said Farrell.
“There’s a lion’s front row in there. So that’s not been an issue for us at all, in fact it’s been a strength for us and we pride ourselves on that and sometimes they (South Africa) catch you.
“They’ve caught plenty of other teams and the momentum, they kept on going for the blood, didn’t they?”
Despite being on the back foot for vast majority of the game, Farrell was surprisingly upbeat afterwards.
“Because how can you not be proud of an effort,” he continued.
“I mean 15-12 numerical advantage and stop-start, you get a player back and then he goes off again, all that type of stuff.
“I mean you wouldn’t believe the chaos that happens within a side, but how they stayed on in there and gave themselves a chance, because let’s be real, if we’d have took our opportunities we would have been in with a chance, I mean that would have been an unbelievable story wouldn’t it, to write really considering what went on during the match.”
Trailing to an early Damian Willemse try, Ireland thought they had restored parity when Tadhg Beirne crashed over.
But that score was quickly wiped off as Ryan’s misdemeanour was brought to referee Carley’s attention.
It was a huge turning point and one that Farrell says was just one of many incidents that Ireland will have to improve on in the future.
“Look he’s gutted, he’s gutted, he’s upset in there, he apologised to the group.
“There was other things that went on within the game as well that we need to address, it’s not just one man’s doing by far, we’re all in this together.”
Farrell also confirmed that Ryan Baird suffered a broken tibia during the game while Mack Hansen is also back on the treatment table.
Ireland’s Mack Hansen has come under fresh injury scrutiny after Ireland’s loss to South Africa (Brian Lawless/PA)
Utility forward Baird has been one of Ireland’s top performers in November and he now faces a race against time to be fit for Ireland’s opening 6-Nation’s game in France in just 10 weeks time.
“Yeah, Mack has injured his foot again so that’s a little bit ongoing so we’ll see how that turns out tomorrow and Ryan Baird I believe has fractured his tibia so he tried to carry on within all that as well so some courage being shown there.”