Last weekend’s dramatic 13-12 victory in Bloemfontein was their first ever victory in South Africa over the Springboks but Wales second-row Beard insists they can create more history by winning the Test series. “We spoke as a squad and a group of players that we wanted to create history coming out here to South Africa,” he said.
“We’ve already done that, but we are not quite satisfied yet. We want to get a first series win out here in South Africa, and hopefully we will do everything we can to get that on Saturday.
“When we came out here no one gave us a hope in hell of getting one victory never mind going into the last test having a decider. The boys are in good spirits, we’ve had a good training week, and the boys have freshened up as the weeks has gone on because we had a few battered bodies at the start of the week.
“The confidence is there, and everyone is buzzing going into this final game.” Ospreys lock Beard has formed an impressive second-row partnership with Will Rowlands, with Wales’ most capped player Alun Wyn Jones adding experienced off the replacements bench.
Beard is relishing the experience of playing with Rowlands and insists the lineout will be a key aspect of tomorrow’s test in Cape Town given the quality of Springbok second-rows Eben Etzebeth, and Lood de Jager. “You can see from his (Will Rowlands) Wales performances, he’s one of our key players at the minute,” he said.
“He consistently is one of our best players. It has been great to play alongside him but also you can see the guy (Alun Wyn Jones) coming off the bench, and the leadership he has.
“It’s just everything that Al brings as well. We’ve got a good couple of second rows at the minute, and I’ve really enjoyed it.
“It’s been great competition and we know we’ve got to be on the money if you want to get good set-piece. They don’t give you any easy ball do they, and they compete at every aspect.
“You could see in the first test that we had a great 40 minutes and didn’t give them anything but if you let off that a little bit they are going to keep knocking on that door and keep coming at you. You’ve got to be consistently right on the money for that full 80 minutes and it’s going to take a lot of grit, and determination to get across that line.
“That’s one challenge we are looking forward to.”
