Zombie nations: a tale of a song and a proper Test series
The Springboks and Ireland - a glorious rivalry in our heads...in our heads...
At the last, after the desperate pleas of the Springboks had failed to sway the evidence of the pictures, with the celebrations of the men from the four proud provinces of Ireland still echoing around King’s Park, Irish fans reclaimed their song after this most mighty of Test matches.
“In your head! It’s in your head! Ireland! Ireland! Ireland-and-and-and!”
“Zombie” by the Cranberries was written by their singer, the late Dolores O’Riordan, in the final years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland about the death of two children by an IRA bomb in Warrington, England in 1993. It is a strong, angry anthem of a song, full of grunge guitar and distortion and fierce drumming.
O’Riordan’s working name for the song was “It’s Not Me”. She could have not predicted it would become a sports anthem after her death in 2018. Fans of the Limerick hurling team were the first to sing it, then Munster rugby supporters used it during their Champions Cup quarterfinal against Toulouse in 2022 before Ireland fans claimed it as their own at the 2023 World Cup.
French stadium DJs lined it up before, during and after every Ireland game. Their rendition of it after Ireland had beaten the Springboks 13-8 at the Stade de France was regarded as the most rousing of them all. Rassie Erasmus called it “great and intimidating”.
Springbok fans love a bit of intimidation, and not known for their originality and no doubt tired of “Ole” adopted “Zombie”. “Rassie” they crowed, “is in your head.” Poor Jacques Nienaber, cursed with a surname that is not hymn friendly. Words of three syllables do not work well with anthems.
Scoring in threes almost worked for the Springboks at Kings Park against Ireland on Saturday. Handre Pollard found form with the boot with eight flawless penalties, though his passing and attacking the gain-line was less assured and cause for worry. He looks at odds with the Tony Brown evolution, but he was not the only Bok who looked so in Durban.
Scoring in threes also worked for Ireland, for Ciaran Frawley, the replacement, in particular. Two drop goals, both from around 40-metres, in a match of such fine margins, was the marginal gain Ireland coach Andy Farrell felt had gone against his team at Loftus the previous week.
When Frawley came on for Jack Crowley in the 59th minute Ireland were 19-18 ahead. Six minutes later they were 24-19 down. After his first drop in the 70th minute, with the score at 24-22, Frawley put a cross-field kick out on the full with three minutes to play. Stu McCloskey performed magic in the Irish 22, Frawley kicked deep, forcing the Boks to concede an Ireland lineout. With 20 seconds left, Rob Herring’s throw went through Tadhg Beirne, Peter O’Mahony, Caelen Doris, Ryan Baird and Caolin Blade and, finally, to Frawley.
It was, he said, “probably the ugliest drop goal I have ever hit in my life. I hit it so ugly that it was on the left post so I knew it would come back to the right. I was more just telling it to go, get over, and the ref was looking at it as well, but I was delighted it did drop over.” The Springboks surrounded referee Karl Dickson as the Irish celebrated, hoping against hope that Cheslin Kolbe had been obstructed. Alas, no, ’twas but a slip.
“When they called it back for the TMO check I was, ‘God no, please find nothing here’,” said Frawley. “Look, I’m absolutely delighted. It’s a proper way to finish a Test series.”
It was a proper finish in a proper Test match in a proper series. If only there was one more match, but then again this result, both the match and the series, felt fitting. It was a queer Test match. Weird, brutal and awkward, full of nothing as both teams tried to cancel each other out and full of everything as they fought to the last.
Franco Mostert warned Ireland would “come back stronger” with the Springboks struggling to handle Ireland at the maul and breakdown in the first Test. He might just as well have said there will be blood, and there was. Ireland stepped up their physicality. Faf de Klerk was bounced around like a gummi bear, Willie le Roux was concussed three minutes in and Eben Etzebeth was off for blood after eight minutes. When Etzebeth returned after 16 minutes, his replacement RG Snyman, walked off the field only to have to immediately return to replace the limping and bloodied Mostert.
Down 16-6 at the break, SuperSport’s Nick Mallett called for the Bomb Squad to be dropped. When it was it did not come in big blast of six replacements at once. Snyman was already on. Two thirds of a front row – Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch – came on five minutes after the break. Marco van Staden came on for Siya Kolisi with half-an-hour to go.
Ox Nche, the man of the match, was replaced in the 56th minute. He made five “dominant tackles”, the most in the game, and was the main reason Ireland only won 56% of their scrums. He was a one-man bomb squad in a disjointed Springboks.
Ireland head home after a season that has been an 13-month slog for many of them, although Peter O’Mahony said: “some might say it has been a long season, but I’ve never seen a fresher group of players.” The Springboks have just started their 2024. The Rugby Championships awaits as does the November tour north.
These past two weekends will remain long in the memory. They were what Test rugby should be: immense, fierce, uncertain, ugly, beautiful tests of character. “Last week was difficult for us, we said it as it was, that we weren’t happy,” said Farrell, “so we had to come out and perform and when you have those conversations, you are talking about character so for that to come through… that’s what sport is all about really.”
South Africa against Ireland. It’s in our head. And it was glorious.
South Africa: (6) 24
Penalties: Pollard (8)
Ireland (16) 25
Try: Murray; Conversion: Crowley; Penalties: Crowley (4); Drop goals: Frawley (2)
Yellow card: Doris (46)
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Caolin Blade. 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (England), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)