The fears of the lack of a proper goalkicker came home to haunt the Springboks on Saturday as they went down to Ireland 19-16 in an error-ridden contest.
Ireland scored their 10th straight win at home as they controlled the contest, got away with a lot in the game under some strange calls from Georgian referee Nikola Amashukeli but still were good enough to survive a late fightback by the Boks.
While it would be easy to give the referee a lot of the blame, and his scrum calls in particular were baffling to say the least, it was more the Boks lack of finishing on attack and using the moments they were offered that cost them in the end.
And the lack of goalkicker was central to it. While Damian Willemse slotted his first penalty, his second was an extremely poor kick and the fears that many fans may have had with Willemse’s goalkicking influencing his general play came true.
From missing a regulation kick to the corner, to several other errors, Willemse had a poor day, prompting Cheslin Kolbe to take over the kicking. But that didn’t help either as Kolbe’s isn’t seen as a frontline kicker and struggled as well.
In all the Boks left seven points on the table, but it was more than that. The kicking woes meant the Boks kicked to the corner early on and didn’t build scoreboard pressure, keeping the contest close until Ireland surged to two tries in the second half.
The problem for the Boks is that it doesn’t get easier with France next week and goalkicking will be a big focus this week as the Boks prepare for another massive clash.
But there was more than just that, the Boks were disrupted more than once illegally, as Ireland not only won the 50-50 calls, but also got away with a lot of gamesmanship during the game that Amashukeli either ignored or didn’t see.
The most blatant moment that shouldn’t have happened at this level was in the second try to Ireland, where a clear forward pass wasn’t even looked at as Mack Hansen ran in the try.
The penalties at the scrum were baffling, especially as for the first half it seemed the referee didn’t want to penalise either side and when he did, he decided that it was the Bok scrum that was infringing, which certainly didn’t look that way for any neutral scrum observer.
Still, the Boks had more than enough opportunities to win the game, and they butchered so many of them. Finishing has been a big problem for the World Cup holders this year and it became costly against Ireland.
Where New Zealand, who have also had a rough year, looked so effortless as they smashed Wales earlier in the day, the Boks looked laboured and struggled to get past the creeping Ireland defence.
In so many ways their most dangerous attacking plays weren’t foiled by the opposition, but by their own unforced errors.
It kept the contest tight and left the teams level at 6-all at the break, with Ireland shifting up a gear with two quick tries in the second half to take control of the contest.
The first was an act of sheer magic from a rolling maul, that looked to be heading over the touchline, only for Josh van der Flier to dot down the ball between an army of legs much to the disbelief of everyone watching.
Then the Hansen try, which came after a ball squirted out the back of a maul, and Ireland capitalised, sending the ball wide - including with a forward pass - for Hansen to run in at the opposite corner ahead of a stretched defence.
It took the contest to 16-6 and it looked as if Ireland had done enough.
The Bok bench made a big difference with the evergreen Franco Mostert finding a hole through the middle to plant the ball on the line.
A bad Bok mistake saw Johnny Sexton slot a crucial penalty before Eben Etzebeth drew three defenders to put Kurt-Lee Arendse away to close the gap with time running out.
And Ireland held out to win, and celebrated keeping their No 1 status in the world rankings.
But for the Boks to deny there is a goalkicking problem will be to deny the obvious. And they leave Dublin wondering what might have been and how many of their own errors cost them.
SCORERS
Ireland - tries: Josh van der Flier, Mack Hansen. Penalties: Johnny Sexton (3).
South Africa - tries: Franco Mostert, Kurt-Lee Arendse. Penalties: Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe.