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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Mark Donlon

Josh van der Flier plays down try scoring exploits as Ireland defeat South Africa

Ireland's Josh van der Flier played down his impressive try in Ireland's win over South Africa as he claimed he "didn't do too much" beneath an array of bodies in the maul.

van der Flier scooped the Player of the Match award after he notched a pivotal try to go along with a fantastic all-round display in Ireland's narrow triumph over the Springboks.

With the game tied at six points apiece after an energy-sapping first half, van der Flier's intervention came just six minutes into the second period.

READ MORE: Ireland withstand Boks storm to lay down marker in thriller

Peter O'Mahony rose well in the lineout to grab possession and on his way back down to the turf deep into South African territory, he handed it off to van der Flier.

As the Leinster man grabbed the ball and ducked his head down, he vanished in a flash beneath a cluster of bodies from both sides fighting tooth and nail to get the edge as the maul developed.

But the momentum was with Ireland and as they surged forward, van der Flier seemed to vanish further and further into thin air.

As bodies fell to the floor, the Irish reaction was genuine and euphoric and suddenly van der Flier reappeared with his fist clenched in celebration.

He believed he had stayed in touch and grounded the ball, and a brief discussion between referee and TMO confirmed that to be the case.

But the Leinster and Ireland star played down his contribution afterwards.

He said: "I didn't do too much, to be honest!

"I was just sitting at the back of it, trying to push as hard as I can and the lads at the front did brilliantly, managed to get us going forward and I had the easy bit then."

And he paid tribute to the calibre of opposition they faced in world champions South Africa.

He said: "We were against a really good South African team, there wasn't much in it at all really.

"They're a really good side.

"I'm incredibly proud of the lads, we fought until the end and managed to get the win so we're delighted with that.

"It's great. Andy challenged us three years ago to keep improving every time we play, and in every campaign we have.

"It's a very exciting group, really good group of players and everyone is keen to get better so I'm sure we'll keep trying to move forward."

Meanwhile, Jonathan Sexton concurred with his teammate and described the Springboks as tough opponents to come up against.

"South Africa pressure you in ways that not many other teams do with their physicality and how they play the game, they're tough to play against," he said.

"We had a couple of opportunities we didn't quite capitalise on, but we dug in there and showed great grit and determination and the pack really fronted up.

"We always front up. It's the intricacies of our game that can be exposed sometimes when we don't get it right and I suppose we didn't play at our best but sometimes they don't let you and they make it difficult for you."

The world champion Boks and world number one ranked Ireland will again lock horns at the World Cup next year, and Sexton did not attempt to downplay the significance of the mammoth rematch on the horizon.

He said: "They're in our World Cup pool so we're going to meet again in 12 months' time at a neutral venue.

"We obviously had an amazing crowd here today which always helps, so a neutral venue next time - it'll be one hell of a game.

"If we lost we would have just said we had learnt, and we've got to learn now when we win as well because they play the game a certain way and you need to be really adapatable to how you play against it.

We did it well at times and then other times we didn't quite capitalise on it but Test match rugby is about winning and thankfully we got the win."

Sexton was in the thick of the action as per usual and for a couple of moments in the early stages of the second half he was down receving treatment while Ireland carried on in attack.

Howver, with the right recovery methods Ireland's No.10 hopes to be back in action next weekend.

He said: "I got a knock on the quad and ribs in one tackle at the start of the second half and I struggled a little bit with it in the second half.

"Hopefully I'll get in the ice bath and I'll be OK for next week."

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