Ireland score sensational NFL touchdown against Springboks
By Rugby Onslaught

Ireland score sensational NFL touchdown against Springboks

Never let forward passes get in the way of a good try. That seemed to be the message in Ireland’s match against the Springboks on Saturday.

Mack Hansen scored Ireland’s second try against the world champions at the Aviva Stadium, but Twitter has gone into meltdown in the wake of it, and for good reason. The try came from a turnover, where the hosts were able to quickly move the ball onto the other flank, with plenty of players showing off their hands. Two of those were props Andrew Porter and Finlay Bealham, but the former’s pass to the latter has proven to be quite controversial. Bealham was standing in front of Porter when the pass was thrown, which is a pretty good indication of the direction of the pass. However, nothing was checked.

Even then, Jimmy O’Brien’s pass to Hansen for the try was suspect as well. Once again, this was not checked either.

Take a look and decide for yourself:

Ireland Squad
H Keenan (Leinster); R Baloucoune (Ulster), G Ringrose (Leinster), S McCloskey (Ulster), M Hansen (Connacht); J Sexton (Leinster, capt) C Murray (Munster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster), J Ryan (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), J Van Der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: R Herring (Ulster), C Healy (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht), K Treadwell (Ulster), J Conan (Leinster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster), J Carbery (Munster), J O’Brien (Leinster).

Springboks Squad
15 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulon) – 20 caps, 50 pts (10t)
14 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 10 pts (2t)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 56 caps, 60 pts (12t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 66 caps, 45 pts (9t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 33 caps, 110 pts (22t)
10 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 23 caps, 19 pts (1t, 4c, 2p)
9 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 10 caps, 12 pts (2t, 1c)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 18 caps, 5 pts (1t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 64 caps, 15 pts (3t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 71 caps, 35 pts (7t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 64 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Cell C Sharks) – 106 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 54 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 55 caps, 65 pts (13t)
1 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 67 caps, 5 pts (1t)

Replacements:
16 – Bongi Mbonambi (Cell C Sharks) – 52 caps, 55 pts (11t)
17 – Ox Nche (Cell C Sharks) – 15 caps, 0 pts
18 – Vincent Koch (unattached) – 38 caps, 0 pts
19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 59 caps, 10 pts (2t)
20 – Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 0 pts
21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 27 caps, 15 pts (3t)
22 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 42 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 79 caps, 65 pts (13t)

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