Monday, June 07, 2010
South Africa come up trumps against Wales in Cardiff
South Africa fielded a side that contained a mix of youth and experience as they tested their depth in this once off fixture that had them flying players in for the game as late as Thursday. Ultimately, the strength in depth showed as they managed to hold off Wales with a side that is very different to that which will start in the Tri Nations.
Wales started off well, but squandered a 16-3 lead as the visitors slowly but surely got themselves back into the game thanks to some good kicking by Ruan Pienaar, and tries by Odwa Ndungane, Dewald Potgieter and Juan De Jongh.
They got to that lead after captain John Smit fancied himself as a flyhalf and couldnt decide whether to put in a chip kick or a long pass. In the end the long pass was picked off by the, as always, highly impressive Welshman James Hook.
"It was a schoolboy error," Smit said afterwards. "I could hardly go behind the posts and tell the boys to toughen up. I asked Victor to have a word."
Debutant De Jongh was smashed by Jamie Roberts early in the game, but soldiered on to put in a notable performance for such a youngster. His centre partner Jaque Fourie praised Wales for the way they started the game.
"We knew it would be hard and physical, but we got a shock in the first 20 minutes," Fourie said. "We did not panic and went back to basics. Wales have some excellent combinations in their team and they will be dangerous in the World Cup."
With ten minutes left in the game South Africa were 31-19 up but the Welsh came back after relentless pressure and some good hands resulted in a nice try to youngster Tom Prydie. Zane Kirchner then came on for Francois Steyn and his first touch of the ball spilt free for Lee Halfpenny to pounce, leading to the late try for Alun Wyn Jones.
Wales fly off to New Zealand on Wednesday for what should be an even sterner challenge as they face two Tests against the number one ranked team in the world.
Time: 08:02
Posted at 8:28 am | 61 comments
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Viewing 61 comments
Anonymous June 07, 2010 7:32 am

Benson June 07, 2010 7:47 am

Great game of rugby. Boks looking strong and confident despite the make shift side.
The build up for the Potgieter try was excellent. Good to see mr Toulon playing well for his country again.
Edbok June 07, 2010 8:05 am

Thought Ricky Januarie especially had his best game for quite a while, but overall very encouraging viewing for us Bok supporters. A number of players who aren't first choices showed some good form.
David June 07, 2010 9:48 am

Anonymous June 07, 2010 9:57 am

Gareth June 07, 2010 10:05 am

Paul James, Deiniol Jones and Jonathan Thomas were passengers yesterday. Only Davies and Rees were effective carriers and Adam Jones and Warbuton did all our clearing out.
Once again we were taught a lesson at the breakdown, by 2 up and coming but not first choice players. I think our breakdown skills are the worst in the top 10 rugby nations, simply far, far too poor.
People will talk about the great comeback, but when you are 16-3 up, a comeback should not be necessary.
Unfortunately, with Warbuton out with a broken jaw and Lydiate injured, Powell and Williams injured, we are going to be stuck with JT and RJ, a rookie in McCusker and a never was Gavin Thomas.
Don't worry about us getting lose to the All Blacks; the last three tests we have played against them in NZ the average score has been something like 50-5, so I am pretty much tired of this tour before it has even started.
themull June 07, 2010 10:15 am

Anonymous June 07, 2010 10:39 am

also, juan de jongh (?) is only a year younger than jamie roberts.
And prydie on the wing has played about 5 minutes this season of professional rugby and he's 18. Very much a young Welsh squad..
Anonymous June 07, 2010 10:40 am

All entertaining games but if they just sorted out their set-piece and defence (Gavin Henson back) they are going to carry on losing
I think Warburton broke his jaw in that first collision and will miss the nz tour. REALLY SAD for him and wales.
Wessel June 07, 2010 10:41 am

Danie R keeps on impressing me with his power and offloads in the tackle.
Leeners93 June 07, 2010 11:14 am

Anonymous June 07, 2010 11:17 am

edbok June 07, 2010 11:52 am

Definitely twice early on in the game on Saturday he lost possession, although he obviously more than made up for it later on. Just seems to me he needs to be a bit more secure because otherwise he will be a target for turn-overs.
jpm June 07, 2010 1:06 pm

Ben June 07, 2010 1:42 pm

Kickable probably not. It was more or less on midway right at the sideline. That would have been about 60m on the angle. So I reckon that it was the right choice, not to try that kick.
And yes, it was enjoyable to watch from a neutral point of view.
Third Centre June 07, 2010 1:47 pm

WelshOsprey June 07, 2010 1:58 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 2:01 pm

fla June 07, 2010 3:25 pm

James Hook is a great player. Glad Wales found a way to keep him on somewhere instead of at 10.
Anonymous June 07, 2010 4:16 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 4:32 pm

Super Tuga June 07, 2010 5:24 pm

Say whatever you want, but he is super talented: he scores, passes, and tackles in a way that most can't. And a player like him inspires the rest of his mates, anyone would like to have such a guy standing in your side, your oponents would fear you, ask Tait(great player too).
SA is in very good shape too, they're launching nice players, just look at the Super 14.
falafel June 07, 2010 5:58 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 6:29 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 7:41 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 8:16 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 8:52 pm

Anonymous June 07, 2010 9:11 pm

Gman June 08, 2010 12:53 am

(u-p)rick June 08, 2010 1:01 am

I didnt like mike phillips shouting 'sir sir' and pointing as SA turned it over....For crying out loud man, you are a scrum half, get in there and fight for the ball....
I got part way through the comments and got pissed off already....There are so many simple minded fuckers on this site....If SA lose a game it will never be fair, SA nearly lost this, but ofcourse there is some sort of reason for that, it couldnt be good welsh play, ofcourse SA is just the golden ring piece of rugby that can do no wrong....
Guys well and truly FUCK OFF....you have your little inflated egos which everyone including myself is very tired of...SA ofcourse had a very nice comeback, but you act as if it was a whitewash of some sort... you are all kidding yourselves...and really as i stand (a British home nation supporter) i actually couldnt give a damn who wins the world cup as long as SA come no where near winning it again....
(but ofcourse thats because someone was banned or injured or this or that!)
avery June 08, 2010 1:50 am

But of course, that never happens, so people moan and groan. Whatever, that's life.
Watching the match, I was surprised at how easy SA scored their tries. Now, either the Welsh defence was light, or SA just made it look easy.
I felt like Wales really just kind of resigned themselves to the loss during the last few minutes. Hook nabbed one drop goal in the first half; I wonder why he didn't go for one at the end? I guess they were 40m out, so he never really got the chance. Either way, he was pretty class the whole match.
Ruan Pienaar also had a surprisingly good match for how he sometimes plays in the Springbok jersey....
Rowan DeBues June 08, 2010 2:24 am

You can always find an excuse for any team, and just about every fan of every nationality does that some time in their lives. Well played to the Boks, I can congratulate you on this one. And to Wales, thank you for doing what you always do which is make the game entertaining by making a ridiculous come back in the last 10 minutes.
Anonymous June 08, 2010 5:11 am

Saffers are very arrogant, but I would be as well with this team. Loads of physicality, leadership, skill and experience.
Best rugby in the world, face it.
Tom June 08, 2010 6:52 am

The Home Nations have no hope of beating SH teams.
Funny how the only players who were poor for South Africa were guys who have been playing in the slow, pedestrian, low skill European leagues.
Steyn and Van Niekerk were shit, they've lost it since going up north.
Steyn in particular has detiorated rapidly.
Anonymous June 08, 2010 7:16 am

Anonymous June 08, 2010 7:35 am

Jason June 08, 2010 7:46 am

Saying that I do like watching wales play. They play a good style of rugby and deserve a SH scalp soon. Just hope its the All Blacks but unlikely in NZ home soil.
Digi June 08, 2010 8:36 am

I know when you're at the top everyone wants to knock you down but guys, please let's just enjoy the good rugby South Africa is producing. They have dominated the Super 14 3 years out of 4 and have pretty much every single trophy there is to win.
This was a real B side that played Wales, most of the guys there were actually deserving. You can't compare this side to the rubbish that played the NH club sides last year. That side was filled with undeserved politically selected players.
Again, I'll strain that it isn't arrogance, it may come off that way to the jealous fans but please.
Why can't you love us like the All Blacks were loved for so many years? We can be exotic too, look at Habana.
FrankyH June 08, 2010 10:51 am

As a regular, I feel that that is the case 100% whenever I see those staunch, bias views. They give other saffas a bad name and I personally wish they would realise it.
Being that they are generally c*cks though, they dont see that, and don't actually care.
Please don't judge a country or it's people based on comments on the internet, particularly on comment boards like this where anonymity is easy. It's a small percentage of knobs and they don't deserve the attention they get.
Mike June 08, 2010 11:57 am

Re. the game, well done the Boks, the better team on the day won it. Nice composure from De Jong (sp?) for his try.
(u-p)rick June 08, 2010 1:12 pm

England fans come on and say 'ah damn, shame we didnt have x and shame we didnt have y, so many injuries, well done anyway SA'
England beats SA 35-30
SA fans would say 'Ah the ref was ridiculous, and we had loads of injuries, it was a one off, we dont care it didnt count for anything, we won the world cup!'
And seriously deny that, honestly!
And the fact SA actually won this match is even more ridiculous!!! there were 'whitewash' comments, then there are 'we had loads of injuries and we still won' etc....
Its ridiculous, and quite sad, you have nothing to do with it....it wasnt YOU that won anything....so to act as if it was 'us' and 'we' is even more ridiculous....
and JUST to sum it all up read Toms comment, what prize c*nt!
FrankyH June 08, 2010 1:26 pm

Just take a look at some of the comments on the facebook page and you'll see that it's the same douche's that post comments over and over. Like, 5 of them or so. I guarantee those are the same ones here.
And believe me, when SA goes down, which will happen, whoever is next at the top of the ladder will come across just as arrogant. It's bound to happen. The Irish were fairly mouthy on here until recently too.. That's not a dig at them, just an observation - they obviously also have a few pathetic trolls.
Anonymous June 08, 2010 2:34 pm

The SA coach on SA as a patchwork side:
"Springboks Coach Pieter de Villiers said: "Any coach would always want more time with his players to prepare for a Test match but we knew what we had, we put our priorities in order and I thought we did a good job."
De Villiers added: "We were very pleased how all of those went."
"We don't simply give out the colours, they all earned their stripes by playing well throughout the Super 14 season.
"This was a just reward for them and we are in a very favourable position to have that sort of strength in depth for the future."
- http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/globalrugbynews.asp?id=26183
The SA coach on the impact of playing in Europe:
"De Villiers pointed out how Steyn's game had gone into decline since he moved to France at the press conference where he axed the Metro fullback and Toulon captain Joe van Niekerk from his squad to face France this weekend.
"I've noticed that when our players go to play for overseas clubs their play tends to slow down somewhat, and is also the case with Steyn," De Villiers told the media on Monday.
"I'm worried about him. When he left here he was the best in the world. I don't think that is the case now. We've had a long chat about it."
De Villiers ignored the fact that players from Europe were coming to the end of a long and arduous season when commenting that the players from up north were visibly off the pace during the Wales game."
- http://www.sarugby.com/news/News/article/sid=13709.html
Anonymous June 08, 2010 4:52 pm

Scarlet Beast June 08, 2010 5:11 pm

Just a joke I also hate all the arrogant South Africans posting on here but everybody does it when their team wins. And lets face it we also had a number of starters left out dew to injury. So under the circumstances it was a good win for us against a good side. I didnt see any whitewash comments on here maybe they were deleted, but to say that is ridiculous. Goodluck on your tour to NZ (anyone will nedd luck play them being a home or away game)
BTW: Im sure you also say we won when Wales win ,if not you should its shows pride in your team.
Anonymous June 08, 2010 5:33 pm

Personnaly I wouldn't say that, but it remains my point of view.
And despite the fact Wales has some rucks issues, I invite you to watch cardiff blues against harlequins in the Heineken Cup. If I'm not wrong it is the same ref, and he also has some issues with rucks. And I think NH will have some problems with SH rules because they're not used to it. And I'm pretty sure NH supporters will be complaining a lot about the ref...
I'm neutral but like exciting game plans, not as restrictive as SA, sorry.
Benson June 08, 2010 5:38 pm

(u-p)rick June 08, 2010 6:43 pm

....you prick... XD
Easy as pie June 09, 2010 8:44 am

I was impressed with Bardley Davis. I've not seen a Welshman carry the ball like that in a long time.
Jacques June 09, 2010 8:57 am

Someone said SA won comfortably and I would more or less agree only in terms of the fact that Kircnhers balls up at the end let Wales back in the game. Both Kirchners and Smits silly mistakes cost SA hugely, and considering it was to large extents 2nd and 3rd choice players playing who havent played much together Id say that it went rather well.
Juan de Jongh, Dewalt Potgieter were outstanding, Francois Louw put in loads of hard work that went unnoticed and Aplon did well too. MOTM to Danie Rossouw and old Ricky Januarie did some good work on his comeback game.
The EOYT last year was a nasty blemish on the Bok sheet for last year and well see if they can get teh grand slam at the end of this one.
mise June 09, 2010 11:39 pm

Go back to 2.55 and watch it for 15 seconds. There is a knock on at the base of the ruck, an done person shouts those exact words.
It led directly to a try.














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