Ryan Bailey reports from the Aviva Stadium

IT’S HARD TO think of a time when South African rugby found itself in such a nadir, with this — their second hammering in three outings – the by-product of a woefully abject and sorry performance.

Facing into a defining end-of-season tour, the Springboks were out-fought and out-played by Joe Schmidt’s Ireland as the ever-widening gulf in class between the nations was laid bare at the Aviva Stadium.

The 35-point winning margin was more than double Ireland’s previous best victory over the Springboks, a 32-15 win at the old Lansdowne Road in 2006.

Their embattled head coach, Allister Coetzee, was at a loss to explain how it went so horribly wrong for his side, who are now without a victory in five games and have won just once away from home during his disastrous reign in charge.

In truth, the end result, although it flattered the hosts slightly after three last tries, was a fair reflection of how dominant Ireland were all in aspects of the game — the visitors were let down by their scrum, discipline and inaccuracy. They were second best all over the park.

“It’s difficult to explain, no positives from our side to be honest,” Coetzee said in his post-match press conference.

“It’s a disappointing defeat, as a group we take full responsibility, we let ourselves down and our support back home. We just have to fight our way back from this one.

“I have to give credit to Ireland, they played tactically very, very well. We lacked patience in our kicking game, and they showed us that you have to have patience, build from penalty. We got off to a terrible start.”

Indeed they did, and the ‘Boks never recovered.

Bundee Aki, on debut, set the tone as he doubled up with Johnny Sexton to hit tighthead prop Coenie Oosthuizen and Ireland then turned the screw to win a scrum penalty.

Sexton was faultless from the tee, Ireland utterly clinical. 3-0, 6-0, 9-0 and the hosts were well on their way.

“I think we played well, the big difference was in the detail at the breakdown, they were really clever,” Coetzee continued.

Coetzee during the post-match press conference. Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

“Rory Best was very good at the ground, the tackler made it very difficult for our first arriver to get there. It was a challenge for us. It is tough at the breakdown for us, and we need to be better next time.

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“I’m sure it’s a lesson for us.

“The reason I referred to Ireland as the European All Blacks, it’s simple, you look at their decision-makers. We haven’t won here in the last few years, we haven’t won a lot to be honest.

“The last time was 2012, and that’s not because of a lack of effort, we’re just getting outsmarted every time. Their experience makes a hell of a difference in their spine.”

Even Joe Schmidt expressed his surprise at the margin of victory; Ireland worked hard, but it was a remarkably comfortable evening’s work against an opponent ranked just one place below them in the world.

It heaps more pressure on Coetzee ahead of games against France, Italy and Wales.

“You’re always under pressure at Test level,” he says. “Our inconsistency for me is something I’d like to see improve in a big way. At times we play well.

“I cannot see anything like this changing in a short space of time.

“Funnily enough we had a great week’s preparation, but that didn’t translate onto the field today. The players are working hard, the coaches are giving their all. No positives, we’ve got to go back and work smartly.”

Captain Eben Etzebeth struggled to make sense of it either.

“Yeah, it’s a tough day,” the second row added.

“It’s not what any of us wanted. We’ve got no excuses, we’re going to have to rectify this, us and the management, come Monday, and make new plans.”

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