Late Frawley drop-goal gives Irish thrilling win over South Africa

South Africa (6) 24

Pens: Pollard 8

Ireland (16) 25

Try: Murray Con: Crowley Pens: Crowley 4 Drop-goals: Frawley 2

Ciaran Frawley struck a brilliant drop-goal with the last kick of the game as Ireland edged South Africa in a hugely dramatic Test in Durban to earn a draw in a captivating series between the world's top two sides.

At the end of a brutal second half in which South Africa battered an error-strewn Irish side to overturn a 16-6 half-time deficit, Frawley seized his chance and lifted the tourists to victory in the most dramatic fashion.

It was a gut-wrenching defeat for the back-to-back world champions, for whom Handre Pollard pounced on Ireland's rising penalty count to kick 24 points.

But replacement fly-half Frawley, whose first drop-goal brought Ireland to within three points, nailed a do-or-die kick from distance to spark ecstatic celebrations from the Six Nations champions.

Introduced in the second half, Frawley etched his name in Irish rugby folklore after condemning South Africa to their first defeat at Kings Park since 2016.

The Leinster back's heroics echoed Johnny Sexton's drop-goal to beat France at the Stade de France in the 2018 Six Nations.

Of course, Ireland's flame-haired hero delivered the heart-stopping crescendo at the end of a second half in which a dominant South Africa appeared on course for victory after overturning a 10-point deficit to lead 24-19 with just over 10 minutes left.

Ireland's resolve was put even further under the microscope when captain Caelan Doris was sin-binned for a croc roll in the 48th minute.

After a gruelling season that included the Rugby World Cup last autumn, fans were denied a decider but Ireland will bask in their latest significant win under head coach Andy Farrell in what was the Englishman's 50th Test in charge.

Offering a blunt assessment of his side's first-half performance in their opening-game defeat in Pretoria, Farrell said his side were "passive" but the Ireland head coach will have been much happier with how his players fronted up during the opening exchanges in the 'Shark Tank'.

And after an early Jack Crowley penalty, Ireland cut through the South African defence with Jamie Osborne and Robbie Henshaw combining to tee up Conor Murray, who added to his try in the first Test on his 10th appearance against the Springboks.

Murray was one of several changes made by Farrell, with captain Peter O'Mahony's demotion to the bench arguably the headline news.

But despite a rejuvenated James Ryan's return to the line-up, Ireland continued to struggle against an exceptionally powerful South African scrum, with two successful Pollard kicks coming from scrum penalties.

Ireland were also given a couple of let-offs with jet-heeled wing Cheslin Kolbe failing to gather a pass moments before Faf de Klerk's knock-on stalled South Africa's momentum as they applied pressure on the Irish line.

Ireland, however, used the hurt from last week's loss as fuel and had the South African defence scrambling at times, although Garry Ringrose squandered a chance to score Ireland's second try and establish a 14-point lead at the break when he spilled the ball.

But driven by a sub-par opening 40 minutes, South Africa showed why they are world champions during a stirring second-half display, their power and aggression forcing Ireland into a string of errors as momentum shifted drastically.

And with Ireland losing their way in the face of a dominant South African scrum, Doris was sin-binned for a croc roll on Malcolm Marx at the breakdown.

At that point, the pressure on Farrell's side only grew as they teetered towards suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2021.

Rubbing salt in Irish wounds was Pollard, who continued to nail penalties to put the hosts within touching distance of a 2-0 series win.

His sixth penalty of the game put South Africa ahead for the first time in the 58th minute and, while Crowley responded, two more successful kicks from the Springbok fly-half seemingly put Rassie Erasmus' side on the verge of a comeback win.

But having already split the posts with one dead-eyed drop-goal, Frawley produced a peach of a kick to shatter the Springboks.

With referee Karl Dickson waving away Kolbe's claim of obstruction at the death, Ireland celebrated just their second win on South African soil.

South Africa: W le Roux; C Kolbe; J Kriel, D de Allende; KL Arendse; H Pollard; F de Klerk; O Nche, B Mbonambi, F Malherbe; E Etzebeth, F Mostert; S Kolisi (capt), P-S du Toit, K Smith.

Replacements: M Marx, G Steenekamp, V Koch, S Moerat, RG Snyman, M van Staden, G Williams, S Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Ireland: J Osborne; C Nash, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; J Crowley, C Murray; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan; T Beirne, J Van der Flier, C Doris (capt).

Replacements: R Herring, C Healy, F Bealham, R Baird, P O'Mahony, C Blade, C Frawley, S McCloskey.

Sin-bin: Doris (48).

Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU).