A late penalty try saw the Springboks claim a dramatic 31-30 victory over Wales in a match dominated by the whistle of referee Steve Walsh in Nelspruit.
Wales came within minutes of recording their first-ever victory over the Springboks in South Africa, but it was not to be as the home side came back from the dead to sneak a victory.
After being blown off the park in the opening exchanges in Durban last week, Wales served the Springboks some of their own medicine in the first half-hour by scoring 17 unanswered points.
Both sides made a fairly sloppy start to the game, with crucial handling errors killing any meaningful momentum but Wales drew first blood when Dan Biggar sent his second kick at goal through the poles and Morne Steyn had a chance to respond but sent his kick wide.
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The visitors crossed the whitewash soon afterwards when big Jamie Roberts powered his way over from a set move after a line-out which put them 10-0 up.
Wales kept the pressure on as the Springboks started falling off more tackles in their own half and it was not long before they had crossed the tryline again with Alex Cuthbert dotting down and Biggar’s conversion gave them a healthy 17-0 lead.
However they were struck a double blow when first lock Luke Charteris and then Biggar were shown yellow cards for deliberately collapsing two different mauls and the Springboks were awarded a penalty try after a sustained period of pressure in the corner.
With Wales down to 13 men the Springboks sniffed blood and a flowing movement from their own half started by JP Pietersen saw them stretch the Welsh defence with Willie le Roux eventually putting Cornal Hendricks over for the try.
That reduced the gap to 17-14 at the break after what had been a half of two halves which saw Wales make all the early running before the Springboks were able to bring themselves back into the contest.
Wales struck first in the second half when hooker Ken Owens barged his way over for their third try to cap a period of pressure and give them a valuable 24-14 cushion.
The Boks got back within striking distance with a penalty from Steyn after spending some quality time in Welsh territory without much reward, but Biggar responded almost immediately with three more points of his own.
Things got even worse for the Springboks when Flip van der Merwe was shown a yellow card for playing Alun Wyn Jones in the air at the restart and the lead was out to two converted tries soon afterwards when Biggar slotted another penalty.
The Boks got back within striking distance when Le Roux ghosted through a gap to score, and the conversion from Steyn made it 30-24. That left them seven minutes to find the winning try and it came when Liam Williams barged Hendricks into touch in the corner without using his arms.
Scorers:
South Africa:
- Tries: Penalty Tries (2), Cornal Hendricks (1), Willie le Roux (1)
- Cons: Morné Steyn (4)
- Pen: Morné Steyn (1)
Wales:
- Tries: Jamie Roberts (1), Alex Cuthbert (1), Ken Owens (1)
- Cons: Dan Biggar (3)
- Pens: Dan Biggar (3)
Yellow card: Luke Charteris (Wales, 30 mins – Deliberate infringement), Dan Biggar (Wales 32 mins, Deliberate infringement), Flip van der Merwe (South Africa, 58 mins – Dangerous tackle)
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (Captain), 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Lodewyk de Jager, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (Captain), 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Paul James, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 James Hook, 23 Matthew Morgan.
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Francesco Pastrana (Argentina)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
@ superBul: I don’t think he’s wrong in his thinking. I’d back the incumbent and the back-ups for now if I were the Kiwis. Carter is a known quantity. They know exactly what they’re getting. They need to know what they’re getting when and if he’s injured. I’d play Cruden for now and Carter when they really need him. My opinion for what its worth.
everyone bar SB watching the futball I see. At least SB has some class by showing his preference for the oval ball.
@ Tassies:
Helloooooo Tassies!
Nee, darem nie soooooo gelukkig nie….soos jy nie!
too quiet on this lot.
Perhaps its best to revert to Johnno’s tales on how he fought with Andre and Piet to become the world’s best whistle man. Its a good read boys so I’d run off and bag myself a copy before it sells out. Big Vic’s foray into the world of introspection is next on my list.
@ Tassies:
Cheers Oom Tas, also signing out now, catch you later.
n vlokken skop afrigter? wat doen n voltydse skop afrigter?
@ Tassies:
62
i have not seen any kick or Goal so far. Somehow i enjoy life away from TV more and more.
Gardening Mad is my current ailment.
@ Pietman: wat? So gelukkig om di dodgy sokka my tydmors ne?
Ek het die game n bietie pretspeel op sondae in Joburg Zoo Lake gespeel in die ou dae maar dis waar ek “draw a lyntjie in the sand”. Not my bag afraid. Not even WC time.
7uur, eet ontbyt met die span,
8h gooi vir pollie en jlp n paar balle, laat hulle vir mekaar skop, meet hulle lyn skoppe om n gemiddelde afstand te kry
9h maak skoppers bewus van hul spasie waar op die veld waar hulle van skop en gee vir hulle targets om voor te mik… so uur.
10h span oefen…kyk na video analiese, whatever
10h15 gaan winkels toe saam vrou
13h30 gaan haal kinders by die skool.
14h00 konsult met biokenetikus saam met video analiese van die skoppers (hou die ou sy kop af? moet hy sy heupe met 5 grade swaai om meer momentum te kry in die skop?)
16h00 konsulteer met skoppers, kyk na video analiese en sien waar jy kan tweak. gee hulle huiswerk
17h00 span bestuur vergadering
17h30 huis toe
@ superBul: you me the same. Strange really. Never thought I’d enjoy it but I do. Indigenous is my game. No hollow rocks, garden gnomes, roses, daffodils, pansies for this man. Net local. Fynbos rules in my garden.
@ Pietman: Ja. Cheers Piet. Nogga dag.
52 @ grootblousmile:
anyway it is really good for Tyrone to have got the call up, things have happened really quickly for him was just August (I think) when I saw him play up here in a pre-season friendly for Glasgow would have been not long after he arrived in Scotland. Since then he has gone on to play for Scotland ‘A’ and now should get his first cap against the Boks on Saturday if not starting then surely on the bench.
Hi GBS that is great, although let me be pedantic – not Scotland international – yet
Okay MB. Cheers. I’m outta here. Nogga dag dan.
@ Tassies:
I went to a game farm today. Must give a quote. All game farms here only plants indigenous.
I plan a garden with cycads , impala lilies and kudu lilies. These 3 will be the main focus plants. This garden also wants a water feature with indigenous grasses and water plants. This is a new one for me. So many invasive water plants , but we have great plants. Just a bit of Homework.
71 @ Tassies:
Hello little suitcases or is it the wine, may have asked you this before 😀
@ Tassies:
hey tassies, lekker aand verder
England 365 and 57 for 5 (Root 8*, Prasad 4-15) need 293 more runs to beat Sri Lanka 257 and 457 (Mathews 160, Jayawardene 69, Plunkett 4-115)
Sri Lanka rampant through Dhammika Prasad who has ripped through the England top order with four wickets, then just to cap it off, Herath picked up the nightwatchman and Sri Lanka can go to bed tonight with very realistic dreams of an historic victory tomorrow, England with another rescue job on their hands, otherwise the Peter Moores era is going to begin in embarrassing fashion. England totally outplayed today, first through Angelo Mathews’ century which set up a huge target of 350 and given them the chance to finish things off tomorrow
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