South Africa (6) 24

Pens: Pollard 8

Ireland (16) 25

Try: Murray Con: Crowley Pens: Crowley 4 Drop-goals: Frawley 2

Ciaran Frawley kicked a brilliant drop-goal with the last kick of the game as Ireland edged South Africa in a hugely dramatic and captivating Test in Durban to earn a draw in the series.

At the end of a brutal second half in which South Africa battered an error-strewn Irish side to overturn a 16-6 half-time deficit, Frawley seized his chance and lifted the tourists to victory in the most dramatic fashion.

It is a gut-wrenching defeat for the back-to-back world champions, for whom Handre Pollard pounced on Ireland’s rising penalty count to kick eight penalties.

But replacement fly-half Frawley, whose first drop-goal brought Ireland to within three points, nailed a do-or-die kick from distance to spark ecstatic celebrations from the Six Nations champions.

Introduced in the second half, Frawley has etched his name into Irish rugby folklore after condemning South Africa to their first defeat at Kings Park since 2016.

The Leinster back’s heroics echoed Johnny Sexton’s drop-goal to beat France at the Stade de France in the 2018 Six Nations.

Of course, Ireland’s flame-haired hero delivered the heart-stopping crescendo at the end of a second half in which a dominant South Africa appeared on course for victory after overturning a 10-point deficit to lead 24-19 with just over 10 minutes left.

Ireland’s resolve was also put under extreme stress when captain Caelan Doris was sin-binned for a croc roll in the 48th minute.

After a gruelling season that included the Rugby World Cup last autumn, fans are denied a decider but Ireland will bask in their latest significant win under head coach Andy Farrell in what was the Englishman’s 50th Test in charge.

Offering a blunt assessment of his side’s first-half performance in Pretoria, Farrell said his side were “passive” but the Ireland head coach will have been much happier with how his players fronted up during the opening exchanges in the ‘Shark Tank’.

And after an early Jack Crowley penalty, Ireland cut through the South African defence with Jamie Osborne and Robbie Henshaw combining to tee up Conor Murray, who added to his try in the first Test on his 10th appearance against the Springboks.

Murray was one of several changes made by Farrell with captain Peter O’Mahony’s demotion to the bench inarguably the headline news.

But despite a rejuvenated James Ryan’s return to the line-up, Ireland continued to struggle against an exceptionally powerful South African scrum, with two successful Pollard kicks coming from scrum penalties.

Ireland were also given a couple of let-offs with jet-heeled wing Cheslin Kolbe failing to gather a pass moments before Faf de Klerk’s knock-on stalled South Africa’s momentum as they applied pressure on the Irish line.

Ireland, however, used the hurt from last week’s defeat as fuel and had the South African defence scrambling at times, although Garry Ringrose squandered a chance to score Ireland’s second try and establish a 14-point lead at the break when he spilled the ball.

But South Africa showed why they are world champions during a dominant second-half display, the power and aggression of the Boks forcing Ireland into a string of errors as momentum shifted drastically.

In the face of a dominant South African scrum and an increasingly raucous Durban crowd, Ireland lost their way in the second half.

And with Doris sin-binned for a croc roll on Malcolm Marx at the break, the pressure on Farrell’s side only grew.

Rubbing salt in Irish wounds was Pollard, who continued to nail penalties to put South Africa within touching distance of a 2-0 series win.

But having already split the posts with one dead-eyed drop-goal, Frawley produced a peach of a kick to shatter the Springboks and give Ireland just their second win on South African soil.

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

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

Ireland: J Osborne; C Nash, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; J Crowley, C Murray; A Porter, R Kelleher, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan; T Beirne, J Van der Flier, C Doris (capt).

Replacements: R Herring, C Healy, F Bealham, R Baird, P O’Mahony, C Blade, C Frawley, S McCloskey.

Sin-bin: Doris (48).

Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU).