While many sides would feel intimidated by facing the Springboks especially at altitude, Ospreys second-row Beard views it as a special opportunity. The 26-year-old, who toured the Rainbow Nation with the British & Irish Lions last summer, is excited at the prospect of what lies ahead for Wayne Pivac’s side.
“I think we work best when we are actually underdogs,” said Beard. “Going into this tour, nobody has given us any sort of chance to go out there and get a victory against South Africa. As a Welsh nation, we thrive under those circumstances.
“No Wales team has gone out to South Africa and won (an international against South Africa). It will be a great challenge to go out there and create some history of our own.
“We were three points away from beating South Africa and being in a World Cup final three years ago and last autumn we were unlucky not to get a victory. There is no better opportunity now to dust off what has happened, get on this tour and prove a point to everyone who is doubting us.”
Wales have quietly been building some strength in depth at second-row with the likes of Will Rowlands, and Ben Carter performing strongly. But Beard is relishing the prospect of playing with world rugby’s record cap holder Alun Wyn Jones who he believes will be vital to Wales’ chances on this tour.
“Al is the ultimate professional and he is looking very good,” Beard said. “He is always the one setting standards, pushing the boys along.
“You can see the enthusiasm and everything he has around the squad. He is the the one driving it, always chatting, and he is enjoying his rugby.
“He might prefer to be captain, he might not, I am not too sure. It might take a little bit of pressure off him not being the captain, but you just know the leadership roles he has anyway.
“He might not have the captain’s armband, but he is still the one leading the enthusiasm, squad ethics and stuff like that.” Beard and Jones will have to be part of a South Africa pack that is battle-hardened and used to dominating opposition sides physically.
“They are big men who are very direct and they come hard at you,” added Beard. “We know our set-piece has got to be on point and definitely the physicality point of the game.
“We have got to take it head-on to them. Last week, we had a bit of a hit-out with a referee coming in. We had two teams of 15 pretty much going at it live in all our different game scenarios.
“We haven’t played for a couple of weeks, so it’s important that we’ve had those training sessions where it needs to get a bit tasty, a bit lively, so when we got out to South Africa we are ready for that confrontation.”
