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Irish defeat South Africa in rugby thriller

JAMES O'BRIEN

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Saturday, November 28, 2009, 12:25 PM

Updated Saturday, November 28, 2009, 3:08 PM

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Read more: Ireland, Jonny Sexton, South Africa

Jonny Sexton gave a brilliant performance

Ireland's new outhalf Jonny Sexton kicked all Ireland's points in a 15-10 famous win over world champions South Africa in Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday.The win means Ireland,who are grand slam champions, were unbeaten in 2009.

The difference in the game was Sexton's accuracy and the problems that South Africa placekicker Morne Steyn had. Steyn missed several kickable penalties and Ireland held out on their own line in a terrific finish as South Africa tried to get a last gap winning try.

South Africa raced to a 10-3 lead when Burger went over for a try that Steyn converted and Steyn added a penalty. Sexton had put Ireland into an early 3-0 lead with his first penalty kick.

At 47 minutes Sexton made it 9-10 for South Africa with another penalty form a very tough angle. Sexton then put Ireland in the lead 12-10 with another kick and added another in the dying moments.

South Africa came back with time running out but incredible defense meant that Ireland held on.
Rob Kearney, the Irish center was named man of the match, a surprising verdict given Sexton's incredible performance under pressure.

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Posted by plasticpaddy on Nov 30, 2009, 10:08 AM EST

He really looks like a talent, good to have options at fly half

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Irish sport is popular and widespread. Levels of participation and spectating are high on the island of Ireland. Throughout the country a wide variety of Irish sports are played, the most popular being Gaelic games (such as Gaelic football, hurling and camogie), soccer, rugby union and boxing. By attendance figures Gaelic football and hurling are by far the most popular sports in Ireland, (34% of total attendances at sports events being to football and 23% to hurling), while golf and soccer (including 5-a-side) are the most played at 17% of the population each. Many Irish sports, such as boxing, cricket, rugby union, Gaelic football and hurling, are organized in an all-island basis, with a single team representing Ireland in international competitions. Other Irish sports, such as Association Football, have separate organizing bodies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. At the Olympics, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either Ireland or Great Britain. The various GAA discipline finals are easily the largest sporting events regularly held in Ireland, in both terms of attendance and media coverage. The biggest national sporting event in Ireland is the final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, held annually in Croke Park in September. It usually attracts a sell out crowd of 82,500 to Croke Park. Many of the matches in the championship attract crowds of 50,000, depending on who is playing. Aside from the GAA, the biggest multi-sport event held in Ireland regularly is the Community Games. The games are organized every year from a local level, where hundreds of thousands of young people compete in different disciplines such as athletics, swimming, cycling etc., in the first half of the year. Winners progress to county level, and then to the Community Games finals. One of the biggest international Irish sport events is international Association Football. The Republic's national team has punched above its weight in recent years, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, and performed well against such teams as Brazil and Portugal. In rugby union, Ireland's national team has been ranked in the top five teams regularly over the last few years, and has produced major stars such as Keith Wood and Brian O'Driscoll. In golf, Ireland is home to several top golfers such as Padraig Harrington.

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Irish defeat South Africa in rugby thriller

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