Wales 12 – South Africa 6
After 16 consecutive losses to the Springboks, Wales beat them in a test match where neither side played well because the tension of the game for all players overcame their skill level under pressure.
At the end it became a contest where neither team wanted to make the last mistake of the match.
After playing poorly against Fiji, Wales threw everything they had against the All Blacks last week; but in the end it was too much as they wilted in the last twelve minutes as the Kiwis scored three tries.
South Africa started some lesser players against Italy and the score was close at the break, but some of their reserves made a big impact in their two try-scoring movements in the second half. They won comfortably but they allowed the Azzurri to put too much pressure on their set pieces.
First half
Penalties were swapped in the first ten minutes but there was no more scoring in the first half which ended at 3-3: the same score as last week at the break. Could the Boks do what the All Blacks did and crush Welsh hopes later on?
In the first half it didn’t look like they would be good enough to, because Wales made it difficult for the Boks to play in Wales’ territory.
But the home side couldn’t make this count as they lost poorly thrown lineouts and executed their passing game like scrubbers. And if the Boks couldn’t get into Wales’ real estate much, at least they exited from their 22 efficiently and were confident that their defence would stop anything Wales could throw at them with ball in hand.
Eben Etzebeth – made one of few good runs for the Springboks
Wales’ best attacking efforts came after well-placed kicks but nothing seemed to work. They even tried two 13-men lineouts before half-time, but the Springboks cleared.
South Africa had some better moments towards the end of the half and lock Eben Etzebeth made a dangerous burst that promised much, but he spilled the ball when he went to ground.
Half-time score: Wales 3 – South Africa 3
Leigh Halfpenny – scored all points for Wales
Second half
Wales kicked three penalty goals to one after the break and led 12-6 at 57 minutes. The last Wales’ penalty came when they got the scrum shove just right and had the Boks walking back and infringing.
Then Bok skipper Jean de Villiers suffered a dislocated knee and had to be replaced. There was more bad news five minutes later when winger Cornal Hendricks was carded for an illegal contest in the air.
After the resulting penalty Wales were able to park near the Boks’ goal line for an age but the 14 Springboks held firm against repeated assaults. At one collision, one metre out, replacement Bok hooker, Adriaan Strauss, was strong over the ball and earned a clearing penalty kick.
There were 15 minutes remaining and it was still 12-6 to Wales.
There was more drama as Willie le Roux knocked on with no pressure. With reserve Nizaam Carr out of the pack to cover for the binned Hendricks, and nine minutes left, the seven-man Bok scrum wheeled the Wales’ scrum legally and got the put-in to a new scrum. Wales were penalised in that one and South Africa was able to clear its line again.
Duane Vermeulen – even he couldn’t get through
I wondered how Wales was going to manage to lose this one because the Boks could not get out of their half. Suddenly they were, and when Handre Pollard kicked a penalty towards the corner post (but it headed towards touch-in-goal instead) reserve Scott Williams tipped the ball back—over the dead ball line!!
It looked like he had found another cunning variation of how to lose a game for Wales, but to their credit the home side wheeled the Bok scrum on their own five-metre line, legally, and cleared with two minutes remaining.
But wait there’s more.
Willie le Roux dropped the clearing kick on his 40-metre line and all Wales had to do was boot the ball into touch from the scrum to end the match.
But the Springboks got their second tight head of the test match and spread the ball, only for a forward pass to end the game.
Wales won 12-6.
The set pieces of both sides had bad moments but Wales were able to play for a long time in the South African half. If they should have taken some of their chances to score tries, at least they limited those of the Springboks to score any.
The official man-of-the-match was flyhalf Dan Biggar but my award would have gone to skipper Sam Warburton who was an inspiration with his poaching, leadership and the occasional run.
The Players
Wales: 1. G. Jenkins, 2. S. Baldwin, 3. S. Lee, 4. J. Ball, 5. AW Jones, 6. D. Lydiate, 7. S. Warburton (c), 8. T. Faletau, 9. R. Webb, 10. D. Biggar, 11. L. Williams, 12. J. Roberts, 13. J. Davies, 14. A. Cuthbert, 15. L. Halfpenny.
Reserves: 16. E. Phillips, 17. A. Jarvis, 18. R. Jones, 19. L. Charteris, 20. J. King, 21. M. Phillips, 22. R. Priestland, 23. S. Williams.
South Africa: 1. T. Mtawarira, 2. B. du Plessis, 3. C. Oosthuizen, 4. E. Etzebeth, 5. V. Matfield, 6. M. Coetzee, 7. T. Mohoje, 8. D. Vermuelen, 9. C. Reinach, 10. P. Lambie, 11. L. Mvovo, 12. J. de Villiers (c), 13. J. Serfontein, 14. C. Hendricks, 15. W. le Roux.
Reserves: 16.A. Strauss, 17. T. Nyakane, 18.J. Redelinghuys, 19. L. de Jager, 20. N. Carr, 21. F. Hougaard, 22. H. Pollard, 23. D. de Allende.
The scoring
Wales 12 (L. Halfpenny 4 pens) bt. South Africa 6 (P. Lambie 2 pens)
