Wales haven’t beaten the Springboks since 1999 but went into the match cconfident of doubling their success tally against the southern hemisphere giants but the Boks powered their way to victory in a bone-jarring contest.
Jonathan Davies, Liam Williams, Adam Jones and Scott Andrews all felt the full force of the South African juggernaut as the Springboks ran over, and through the Welsh ranks. Those men in red who remained standing at the end stuck to their task manfully but were ultimately outgunned and outmuscled by the visitors.
Previous Welsh teams would have buckled under the monumental pressure from the barrage they faced today but Warren Gatland’s brave men are made of sterner stuff and gave the number two ranked side in the world a good run for their money.
The earth moved every time defenders dynamited into tackles in a hugely memorable and physical encounter. South Africa’s sheer velocity and power in the heat of battle was something to behold for the neutral fan – not that there many inside the Millennium Stadium.
Davies made his presence felt inside the first two minutes, bursting through Springboks tacklers at will to set up an early shot at the posts for Leigh Halfpenny. He made no mistake with his wide angled penalty to give Wales the perfect start.
Lambie sent a punt skywards and when the ball came down Wales infringed at the ruck. Morne Steyn then levelled matters with a comfortable strike.
Davies’ speed then set up another Halfpenny opportunity after galloping away from the Boks cover and the Blues full back didn’t disappoint his fans with another three points to take the Welshman past 300 points for his country.
South Africa then hit the front for the first time with a gem of a try. Bryan Habana arced around Richard Hibbard before leaving George North clutching thin air. The Boks winger surged deep into Wales territory before offloading to hooker Bismarck du Plessis. He made ground before the looming Jean de Villiers powered over. Steyn added the extras with ease but the try caused collateral damage as both Liam Williams and Davies were forced to leave the field with injury. They were replaced by James Hook and Ashley Beck respectively.
The Springboks clinical power game rammed more holes into the Welsh defence moments later from a lineout. du Plessis regained the ball from a lineout close to the tryline and on the back of the Boks juggernaut, twisted over the line to score the visitors second try.
Steyn’s conversion put the visitors firmly in control in their attempt to extend their unbeaten run to 11 Tests against northern hemisphere opposition since a 21-17 defeat by Scotland three years ago.
Halfpenny pegged back three points with a third penalty but Wales were left with a mountain to climb when the cornerstone of the pack, Adam Jones, was forced from the field with a calf injury to be replaced by Scott Andrews.
Against the run of play Halfpenny reduced the arrears to five points with an excellent kick wide out before the electric atmosphere was ratcheted up a few volts when referee Alain Rolland sent flanker Francois Louw to the bin for a bit of skull doggery on Richard Hibbard’s throat.
Despite being on the back foot for most of the first half, Wales only trailed 12-17 as the players headed down the tunnel for their halftime breather.
Andrew lasted just the one scrum as he was replaced at halftime by Paul James because of a neck injury. The physical nature of the battled was certainly taking its toll.
A gutsy Wales refused to throw in the towel and in the 56th minute Halfpenny’s deadly boot lifted spirits with his fifth success to bring Wales two points within South Africa.
The match was reduced to uncontested scrums when referee Rolland finally lost patience with Gethin Jenkins – he was joined by Coenie Oosthuizen who had only just come on.
Fourie du Preez sent a dagger through the hearts of Wales he ghosted over in the 65th minute after Rhys Priestland had been caught in to minds gathering the scrum half’s kick – Jaque Fourie pick-pocketed the bobbling ball to hand it on a plate for the delighted du Preez. With Lambie’s conversion, South Africa had shot out to a 15-24 lead.
Wales tried to rally but the damage had been done. Heavy legs after a huge defensive effort left the men in red too much to do as South Africa deservedly ran out winners.
