South Africa 27-20 Ireland: World champions South Africa beat Ireland in first test

To try: Arendse, Kolbe, penalty attempt Swindler: Pollard 2 Pen: Pollard 2

To try: Osborne, Murray, Baird Swindler: Crowley Pen: Crowley

South Africa reinforced their status as the best team in the game with victory over Ireland in Pretoria.

The test between the top two in the world rankings was overcome by the world champions, who beat Ireland for the first time in eight years.

Kurt-Lee Arendse opened the scoring with a try after just three minutes for a Springbok side who remarkably injected plenty of width into their play throughout.

Irish debutant Jamie Osborne responded with a goal before half-time and the game ended with a flurry of four attempts in the final 15 minutes.

For the sixth time in the last seven meetings, these teams have played out a 1-0 draw. South Africa deserved the win, having led for virtually the entire match.

Ireland will look to salvage the series and claim just their second win on South African soil in Durban next week.

In his first home Test since lifting the World Cup at the Stade de France nine months ago, Rassie Erasmus was able to name a starting line-up that featured 12 players who also started the final victory over the All Blacks in Paris, while the three exceptions came off the bench.

After fielding a lesser-known side to beat Wales last month, this was certainly a return to the core squad that won the fourth Webb Ellis last autumn.

In fact, it could be said that there were more changes in the coaching staff than on the field in South Africa.

Former Japan assistant coach Tony Brown has taken over as the team’s attacking coach, with Ireland’s 2009 Grand Slam winner Jerry Flannery now in charge of defence.

Brown’s trademark was all over the opening try, with the Springboks working the ball from side to side before Siya Kolisi’s pass released Kurt-Lee Arendse into space.

The Bulls winger, playing at home in Pretoria, sped past Jamie Osborne to complete a quickfire try for the team after just three minutes.

A mistake from No.8 Kwagga Smith at the restart gave Ireland the opportunity to immediately test Flannery’s defensive structures but, after some physical intervention from former Munster centre Damian de Allende, the hosts would force their way in.

Ireland were without Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Jack Conan and Iain Henderson for various reasons.

In their absence, Farrell opted for a pair of bold selection calls, inserting Jamie Osborne, usually a centre, into Keenan’s wing-back role, while Craig Casey was selected in the nine ahead of the vastly experienced Conor Murray. Osborne was tested aerially early on and, in what was a composed first call-up, would miss a Cheslin Kolbe kick for touch.

Indeed, the Six Nations champions’ error count was simply too high across the board in the first half-hour, with the visitors 13-3 down as Handre Pollard punished some indiscipline off the tee.

With a lot of work to gain every meter of ground, they managed to recover in the dispute with a beautiful try from debutant Osborne.

Created by a brilliantly inventive pass from hooker Dan Sheehan, James Lowe had to show strength and agility to get his pass out before being thrown wide, and Osborne did well to hold onto the ball and finish.

Farrell’s men wanted much more from the opening 40 minutes but, despite their mistakes, they were only five points down at the turn, with that scoreline remaining the same for the first 25 minutes of the second half.

Ireland must have emphasised the need to tidy things up at the interval but quickly found themselves behind when Bundee Aki was hit on the stroke of half-time. The Connacht centre taking a caution after the whistle told its own story.

With half an hour remaining, Rassie Erasmus called his famous ‘Bomb Squad’ from the bench, although their first involvement resulted in a penalty for Ireland at the scrum.

Despite the narrow nature of the lead, it was the Boks who applied most of the pressure, with some timely interventions from the likes of Caelan Doris and Josh van der Flier keeping Ireland in touch.

That defensive work looked even more crucial when, after the ball broke free from a ruck botched by Aki, Lowe fended off Pollard and ran in for a try.

The TMO, however, correctly intervened to disallow the score after catching substitute Ronan Kelleher playing the ball on his knees.

Pollard would miss the resulting penalty, his third uncontrolled effort off the tee, keeping the deficit at five.

But South Africa still felt more likely to win and would secure the decisive score of the game with just a quarter of an hour remaining.

Frustratingly from Ireland’s perspective, it came from a Springbok error. After his forwards had won a scrum penalty, Pollard lost touch as Lowe threw the ball back upfield.

However, the outcome would be favorable to Cheslin Kolbe, who advanced before scoring the first points of the second half.

With South Africa finishing the game with 14 men as Arendse was sent off, Ireland pulled one back with five minutes remaining when Conor Murray crossed the byline as Farrell’s side attacked following a goal-line collapse.

In a frenetic finale, South Africa responded immediately after Lowe made a mistake at the restart and the home pack advanced to a penalty try from a five-metre scrum.

There was just enough time for the restart when replacement striker Ryan Baird crossed into the corner in the last minute to put Ireland back within a converted try, but they scored to end the game as they tried to salvage a draw on their own turf.

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

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

Ireland: J Osborne; C Nash, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; J Crowley, C Casey; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; T Beirne, J McCarthy; P O’Mahony (captain), J van der Flier, C Doris.

Substitutions: R Kelleher, C Healy, F Bealham, J Ryan, R Baird, C Murray, C Frawley, G Ringrose.

Judge: Luke Pearce (England)