Sunday, June 08, 2008
South Africa overpower Wales 43-17 in Bloemfontein
The New Zealander likened some of his players to "rabbits in the headlights" and said he was "a little bit embarrassed" by the scoreline. South Africa scored four tries to two.
"At the end of the day we weren't good enough and we were physically dominated by a better side," Gatland said. "I am a little bit embarrassed by the performance because we came here with high hopes and expectations. Even though we were talking coming into the game about confidence and self-belief, we didn't demonstrate it. We had players who carried the ball well in the Six Nations, but at times there were eyes up, looking for the tackler, and some of the players were like rabbits startled in the headlights.
The Springboks, playing their first game under a new coach, Pieter de Villiers, fielded only five of the starting line-up from the 2007 World Cup final in Paris. Wales started with nine of their 2008 Grand Slam side.
They meet again next weekend in Pretoria, where Wales will be looking for an improved performance and the Springboks will be wanting to build on the new combinations.
Note: This has been updated with better quality highlights.
Time: 06:57
Posted at 5:12 pm | 50 comments
|
|
|
Viewing 50 comments
bD June 08, 2008 4:14 pm
what was the springboks 22 for the match can anyone tell me????
Chazza June 08, 2008 4:33 pm
Percy Montegomery was the 22 bdgreat match, bit of a bum for wales though. good on the boks
David June 08, 2008 4:51 pm
Thrashed, totally outmatched physically, and outplayed. 18 turnovers which is shocking, we made more errors in this game than in the whole 6 nations combined, forgive but its a bit unchracteristic, Gatland used the term "startled rabbits" and i'm inclined to agree with him, made to many mistakes, and were punished for them, Butch played really well, and at least shane williams showed his class. We missed Nugget, Mike Phillips, and Henson. not making excuses though the better team won by a country mile.hope we can regain some pride next week.
Anonymous June 08, 2008 5:25 pm
A fair score considering Wales are hugely overrated. Hopefully it will lead to an attitude correction among the Welsh who seem to think that winning a weak 6 nations makes them the best in Europe. First Ospreys get shown up then this - no suprise for us neutrals.
Anonymous June 08, 2008 5:35 pm
Yeah, silly Welsh thinking that beating all the best sides in Europe makes them the best side in Europe...
David June 08, 2008 5:41 pm
yeah 1st anonymous what the hell has club rugby got to with it?Idiot
Rancid June 08, 2008 5:51 pm
Anonymous does have a point. Winning the Six Nations doesn't necessarily make you the best in Europe.Scotland beat England in the Six Nations. Yet no neutral fan would ever say Scotland are better than England.Wales are a good exciting team, but incredibly over rated too.
Bonzai June 08, 2008 5:53 pm
The welsh fullback just stood flapping when both conradie and montgomery ran at them, awful.
Anonymous June 08, 2008 6:04 pm
@ David/Idiot guy. The Welsh side is pretty much man for man that same as the Ospreys.Did you not spot that?
Balls June 08, 2008 6:12 pm
Stoddart was terrible, replace his place on the bench with Tom James.
David June 08, 2008 6:24 pm
Man for man the ospreys? i don't think soand i don't believe a regional club like the Ospreys and their performance has much to do with how the welsh national team plays...what with the coaching set up, the fact its international, and a myriad of other factors, and as i far as i know the Ospreys haven't ever played vs South Africa.I didn't have any illusions how tough it was going to be, so i don't consider wales to over "overrated" at all.
Gareth June 08, 2008 6:33 pm
This is riduculous, why is everyone having a go at the Ospreys when Wales lose? Grow up people (I hate the Ospreys before anyone jumps the gun)The fact is that yesterday we didnt even make South Africa work for their win at all. They are a better side than us and we needed to frustrate them and make them work for points. All we did was miss easy tackles, not hit touch, conceed far to many turnovers and make more knock ons than I can remember from a welsh side in recent times.Well done South Africa, you have great strength in depth, I hope your players wont leave like the AB's have and you were good value for your win. As for next week, if we stop the stupid, stupid mistakes we will see a much closer game with the same result.
hackney griffin June 08, 2008 6:47 pm
Thought the dump was going to get rid of anonymous posts? Really should as the deliberately offensive and down-right ill informed here all have one thing in common...Thought the two teams were seperated by the back row and 12s. As in Wales seemed not to have either. Ryan didn't step up, Jenkins did. Has Gatland got the right captain?
Anonymous June 08, 2008 7:00 pm
"Man for man the ospreys? i don't think so"need to work on your rugby knowledge...
Anonymous June 08, 2008 7:01 pm
Shane williams stepping habana was absolutely classic
Anonymous June 08, 2008 7:27 pm
Cant read that much into it. Wales played far better in the Six Nations and World Cup. SA beat them pretty soundly last time too, but I do expect they will do better next week. Springboks have loads of depth and class players and even though the score was huge they werent always firing on all cylinders. The day they do will be pretty frightening. Hope Wales can do a bit better next week as its always more enjoyable watching a closer game.Go Bokke!
dai June 08, 2008 8:21 pm
montgomery try? anyone explain why the knock on, forward pass was allowed to be played on?, not making excuses wales got what they deserved with their display, think shane won the anticipated battle on the wings this time round
Luke June 08, 2008 9:05 pm
Stoddart was terrible, Dafydd Jones was terrible, Ryan Jones was terrible, our lineouts were terrible. I know it's not my call to make but next week I'd hand the captaincy to Geth Jenks, I'd keep Jamie Roberts on for the full game, I'd put Mark Jones on the bench and start Tom James. Throughout the week Wales really need to work on their back row/lineouts.A few good points are that I thought Sonny Parker played well, Gareth Cooper didn't do too badly, our scrummaging was really good and it was fantastic to see Shane Williams beating Habana...Gotta hand it to them though, South Africa outclassed us in every way. Thoroughly deserved to win.Anyone else enjoy Sonny Parker running over De Villiers as much as I did??
Anonymous June 08, 2008 10:26 pm
This shows Wales does not have strength in depth. The whole team looked unbalanced. This is probably because wales were without their link men ei. Henson, M Williams, M phillips, L Byrne. Wales can beat anyone in europe when these guys are there. The thing with Wales is that they have the ability to lose to a team by 50 points and then beat them a few weeks later.PS. Why does so many people assume wales are overated. They have won 2 grandslams in 4 years. If anything they are underated, especially from by the english
Anonymous June 08, 2008 10:36 pm
the last try by was scored as the result of a nock on/forward pass by the boks and should not have been given. saying that wales did not deserve to win and made too many mistakes. You just can't do this when you play the best teem in the world.
Benson June 08, 2008 10:41 pm
The Percy Montgomery try.. it wasn't a knock on, it was passed back into one/two of the Welsh players' backs and then looked to go forward, hence Habana rightfully playing on. And Shane Williams 'winning the battle of the wings'?? He touched the ball about three times, scored a great try with the covering defence flying across from the left wing, and had some nice interchanges. Habana and Chavhanga barely touched the ball, and when they did, they did okay with the lack of space they had.Clutching at straws to say Shane got the better of Habana. Great step, but anyone who's played the game will know that if a defender is flying across like that, the easiest thing in the world to do is step inside. It's not exactly the same as a one on one now is it. One positive for the Welsh though maybe, so you go with that then...
Anonymous June 08, 2008 10:47 pm
Benson. your blind mate. it was clearly a knock on. Habana was skinned by Shane. just accept it.
cheis June 08, 2008 11:19 pm
@ BD:Guthro Steenkamp 1John Smit 2Brian Mujati 3Bakkies Botha 4Andries Bekker 5Luke Watson 6Juan Smith 7Pierre Spies 8Bolla Conradie 9Butch James 10Bryan Habana 11Jean de Villiers 12Adrian Jacobs 13Tonderai Chavhanga 14Conrad Jantjes 15Bismarck du Plessis 16CJ van der Linde 17Victor Matfield 18Danie Rossouw 19Ruan Pienaar 20Peter Grant 21Percy Montgomery 22
Benson June 08, 2008 11:31 pm
Aaah Anonymous come on don't be like that. You've obviously only seen the clip in low quality on here. Can't afford Sky eh? Shame poor fella. I'd be more concerned with old man Percy getting around your fullback's feeble attempted tickle, sorry tackle.- Wasn't a knock on. - Clutching at straws. - Use a name you non-entity.
Abs9 June 09, 2008 1:49 am
Gotta agree with you benson it was a shocking attempt of a tackle! Wales back row wasn't impressive at all.. we missed martyn williams.1st up tackles cost us, round the fringe areas of rucks all game!! not taking nothing away from the boks they are an awesome team. south africa just out powered us and the guys froze! which is understandable. personally i think wales just need to up the intensity to have a chance next week. along with sorting out the line outs!! still think the boks can beaten to!! Overall well done south africa, well played!
Doug Mason 078100302 June 09, 2008 3:14 am
Shane skinned habana TWICE!!!!!the bit where he spun around him on the right wingAnd when Habana got stepped for the try what else did he expect shane to do??chavanga also got smashed by little shane into touchOther than shaney boy we were poooooorWell done S.A thoughgood all round game from themhope we improve for next week
Benson June 09, 2008 10:04 am
Chavhanga was in the air catching a crosskick when he got tackled into touch?? Don't think that really counts Doug. lolYeah Shane did seem to get past Habana on the wing there. Not hugely important in the outcome of the game. Anyway, Habana was IRB Player of the Year and top try scorer at the WC because of his brilliant finishing and good overall play. This is rugby, of course players are going to get around him every now and then. Happens to everyone at some point. Calling it a 'skinning' is a bit ridiculous. Or maybe we should talk about how Percy SKINNED the welsh fullback, or how Bolla did, or how JDV did? Get over it. So should I actually. lata :)
Osprey Rich June 09, 2008 10:45 am
Bullied up front and made to many mistakes. Oh well no excuses from me. Looking forward to the All Blacks sorting the Saes out which will put anonymous in his place :-)The strength in depth of the Sarfricans is impressive, like the Kiwis they just seem to have this conveyor belt of players no one in the NH can say the same.
David June 09, 2008 11:10 am
lot of criticism of our fullback, Stoddard, well just so you know:I sure as hell didn't pick him, this was his second cap?someone mentioned strength in depth? Hence having to pick stoddard. lots of injuries.next week our line out must function, our centers sonny parker, and especially Shanklin HAVE to step up, terrible game for him.and above all the back row have to at least match the springboks, otherwise it might be error after error, again, 18 TURNOVERS! easier said than done though, Juan Smith is a tank!glad to see the vast majority of comments aren't so stupidly critical and biased against the welsh. (bet their English wankers anyway)i really hope we put on a show next weekend.
22 Stone Prop June 09, 2008 1:00 pm
im welsh and i think nxt week will be no different we're going to get another thrashing.Just wait till the autumn test against S.A when we have the bulk of the team back and fit then things will get serious Decent game Shane Williams is a legend
Will Topps June 09, 2008 2:15 pm
''Great step, but anyone who's played the game will know that if a defender is flying across like that, the easiest thing in the world to do is step inside.''Agreed, but a world class winger wouldn't have come flying across like Habana did. Habana is faster than Williams, and knows it. Why not just let him have the outside, and use the touchline as an extra defender. If Williams takes the outside then fairplay to him, he shouldn't have been allowed to take the inside. It's standard defence.Our Shane made him look a bit stupid!
Sharky June 09, 2008 2:31 pm
Besides Habana possibly looking stupid slipping on his arse, Shane looked even worse with that pathetic gesture under the posts. One thing to do what when you're 30 up and dominating, another thing when it's pretty much the opposite.Pure arrogance IMO, and one of the reasons that no matter how often he impresses me with his stepping, I just can't help but dislike the little man. I'd be embarrassed if one of our players did that while we were taking a hiding.
geraint June 09, 2008 2:49 pm
Were the welsh fans at the game chanting "ole, ole, ole ospreys"?? Cos if so then they're all wankers. Why would they chant that? Its not ospreys its wales. Idiots. I hope they weren't chanting that but it did sound like, thats disrespecting our own team for f*ck sake!!We were completely out played, if we hadn't made so many handling errors, weak tackles and bad discipline it'd have probably been a lot closer but its too late for that now. Let's just hope we can sort it out bit better next game. The last boks try was definitely a knock on, have no idea how that was missed. Never mind though, we were well beaten.
Chazza June 09, 2008 6:02 pm
Sorry To say this but does any one else get confused with the names of the welsh. Jones, Jenkins they all confuse me, wales was alright but SA was just to strong oh and to any one who thinks that Williams Schooled Habana and Chavanga thats not right
Craus100 June 09, 2008 7:51 pm
Nobody else see how ridiculous Percys running style is... looked like an 8year old kid hyper on caffine(but he's forgiven due to the great hair). Wales deserved to loose this one, need to get themselfs a fullback sorted for the next game. Is Jamie Roberts ready to step up?
Sharky June 09, 2008 8:12 pm
Hahaha Craus, yeah to be honest, I also thought he looked kinda funny there. Looked off balance or something, as if he was struggling to run, despite hitting the ball at pace. Hair must've been out of place, causing the balance thing, also putting Stoddart off. :P
Luke June 09, 2008 11:37 pm
craus - I think Jamie Roberts had a solid game. He made 2 distinct errors - failed to catch a high ball which he's usually excellent at catching well and he held back for the De Villiers try, mistakenly thinking he'd been taken down. Other than that, he had a solid game, especially considering he's started in that position only one other time this year and that was in the Heineken Cup. Stoddart on the other hand had a howler and only increased my belief that he's not ready for international duty yet, if ever. If I were the Welsh coach I'd definitely have Jamie Roberts as back up to Lee Byrne over Morgan Stoddart...
Cheese van Tonder June 10, 2008 10:09 pm
All those sore losers who keep going on about shane williams - who gives a toss, youre 6 nations winners and you stuffed by 20 points.Welcome to the parents table, next week is roast lamb.Lets look at some player achievers. Juan Smith - awesome game and super ball carrying skills, always crossed the adv line. Jean de Villers - fantastic off loads and vision and Butch - very solid no. 10 performance.Nuff said. Thought the welsh 15 had a good game, god knows why they put on that other twit.
Anonymous June 11, 2008 2:37 pm
Just admit it shane williams in that particular game was better than habana plain and simplehabana is amazingly fast but has poor footwork
Anonymous June 11, 2008 8:34 pm
Prediction for the next game is bok's 28 Wales 12 for this weekends game. Habana will up his game. Williams will come out second best for round 2.
Anonymous June 11, 2008 8:42 pm
It would be nice to see argentina play wales. Are there any fixtures planned?
Anonymous June 11, 2008 11:26 pm
Im a saffa and agree with the welsh who say that williams got the best of habana, he's a gr8 wing. I'm just a bit dissappointed that chavanga didnt get a chance 2 show his peed, if u habana is fast, u should c chavanga, beat habana in the 100m last year.Gr8 start for SA, never had a problem with wales, we always seem to play each other in a good spirit, cant wait for this saturday
aj.uk June 13, 2008 11:20 am
Battle of the Hemispheres?Shut up.The Welsh never came up with that nonsense, they know theyre not the best side in the North, and by a long stretch. So... only southern hemisphere could have come up with that pap.Wales were so unbelievably fortunate to win the 6 nations, had one or two things been only the slightest bit different and they could have been looking at contesting the wooden spoon insteading ending up victorious. England smashed them in the first and then after three freak injuries and two players playing out of position they came back to win after Ashton showed his ineptitude on a management level. Then France really should of put them in their pocket, Scotland rolled over and died against them for whatever pathetic reason. Ireland were just awfully poor all Six Nations and still only lost by 4 points. And well, Italy just got shafted, that was the only game where the Welsh truly impressed.SA were always going to give Wales a torrid time. So less of the best of Europe stuff, they're 3rd best, if they're lucky.Just had to clear that up, being European and all.
Anonymous June 24, 2008 8:39 pm
Ummm who cares if Wales are the best in Europe, the point is the best rugby is played in the south and while winning the six nations is good its clearly not good enough for the likes of New Zealand, South Africa and Oz...dont know why all the AB's are going overseas (money)...it should be the other way around, we maybe need some welshman playing in the super 14
Anonymous August 08, 2008 12:34 pm
i agree the welsh certainly are not the best in the north, and as an english men i was glad to see them lose so they could come back to earth. however to say that the south is better is arrogant to say the least, firstly on these tours well for the english and french at least we came with injured, weak and unexperienced sides these tours mean nothing. The world cup showed how the north can handle the south when they put their mind to it thus proved by knocking your two top teams at the time out on the same day. While between major contests the south still thrashes the north, the north comes back in the major tournaments so don't underestimate us
Commenting as Guest | Register or Login