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6 hours ago
3
Key events
The damp conditions are making for a stop-start affair, but when the game is in the start section South Africa are approximately 79% the better side; physically dominant across the park and set piece with only their own soggy profligacy holding them back.
Wales are something of a rabble, but that’s what being utterly physically dominated will do to you.
Half time!
PEEEEEEEEP! That’s the final act of the half.
TRY! South Africa 19 - 0 Wales (Jesse Kriel)
40 mins. One last attack from the home side finds Du Toit on the left wing in the 22 where the Wales defence do a good scrambling job. But this has left a big gap on the right that Moyo exploits with a cross-kick for Kriel to feast on.
39 mins. Frantic moments after Murray prevents a 50:22 by swinging his left leg at the ball. It pinballs all over the place between both teams on the 22 before settling in a Bok’s hands with Wales all sorts of offside. I have some sympathy for the defenders as it’s incredibly difficult to know where offside is when the ball is all of the shop like that.
38 mins. The visitors have their turn to knock on in a promising attacking position, Carre hitting a lovely angle only for the ball to spill forward from his paws. A penalty is awarded to the home team from the scrum and Wales find themselves back in their own half defending a lineout.
36 mins. Wales force some pressure on the Bok in their 22 after a defensive lineout. De Allende is stopped on the crash ball before Reinach slices a poor kick to touch.
34 mins. The scrum is won and five phases later Wales find themselves five metres behind where they started, down to a combination of decent defence alloyed with mostly pedestrian attack.
33 mins. For the first time Wales have a platform, and it’s due to Fassi spilling a regulation catch from an Edwards kick. Scrum for Wales on the 10m line incoming.
32 mins. Du Toit is sad when his run to the tryline is called back by Ref Brace for a bit of crossing. Not that it matters as the move was played on on two penalty advantages against Wales and so they attack again, this time on the left before Du Toit appears in the attack once more, this time to knock it on.
30 mins. Another Wales scrum has the ball flying through it faster than an Aldi checkout, allowing to kick clear from his own 10m line. The scoring has stopped from the Boks, but this feels like a constant containing exercise from Wales that at some time will splinter from the pressure.
28 mins. More imprecision from the home side allows Beard to snaffle the lineout throw, which Williams runs out of the 22 into safer territory.
26 mins. Du Toit flies high to gather a lineout in the Wales half that rapidly turns into a maul that marches 20 or so metres. In the midst of it there is side entry from Lewis and when the ball is spilled the ref calls the play back from the advantage. It surprises no-one when Moyo opts to find touch in the 22.
23 mins. Wales are getting the ball in and out of the scrum faster than the proverbial through a goose, Wainwright again carrying from the base. Edwards sends it away via his boot, but the Boks soon return to the 22 where Wiese spills the ball.
It’s very damp out there, by the way, hence the skiddy ball.
21 mins. Alex Mann thinks he’s won a ruck penalty by getting his hands on the ball but Ref Brace disagrees, penalising him for hands on the floor. Moyo sends it to touch and his pack spill the ball at the lineout maul. This is frustrating but not terminal for the home side as Wales must navigate a defensive scrum in their own 22.
17 mins. Wainwright has a very good run off a scrum on halfway that Wales manage to win, but the gainline advantage results in little as the Boks get amongst the next ruck and ruin the possession. The ball is kicked behind the Welsh defence with Morgan in all sorts of trouble retreating before being let off the hook by a high tackle from the chasing defence.
14 mins. This already feels like a long evening for Wales, and we’ve barely started.
TRY! South Africa 14 - 0 Wales (Cobus Reinach)
13 mins. The Boks have a scrum on the Wales 5m line, and after one reset the inevitable happens with Reinach simpy picking from the base and sprinting over.
Moyo converts.
11 mins. An ominous passage for Wales from the lineout as a staccato move finds Wainwright, who gets nowhere before Marx has the simplest job of clamping on to win a jackal penalty. That was nothing short of woeful on first phase.
This is worsened when Cobus Wiese rampages clear in the 22 from the next possession, but the ball is lost.
9 mins. A few minutes are taken up with the setting of a Wales scrum that goes to ground once, then brings a penalty for the Boks against Dillon Lewis for losing his feet under pressure. The lineout for the home team is wasted as Moyo encroaches the lineout too early.
TRY! South Africa 7 - 0 Wales (Jasper Wiese)
5 mins. The crowd springs to life for the first time as Fassi steps off his left foot, leaving Edwards standing, to run 15 metres into the Wales half. Two phases later, after a strong run from De Allende, Wiese crashes through some poor tackling in the 22 on a short angle to rumble over.
Conversion added
3 mins. The lineout on the Wales 10m line produces nothing from the Boks and some traded kicks follow,l eading to Moyo sending it too long to allow an easy mark from Murray.
1 min. A loud blast on the ref’s whistle awards a penalty against Alex Mann for some shenegans at the ruck. Moyo sends it to touch,
Speaking of the ref, the officials for today are
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland),
Assistant Referees: Pierre Brousset (France) and James Doleman (New Zealand),
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Kick Off!
We’re underway.
The teams are out, we await the pre-game formalities before kick off.
Pre game reading
Dave Rennie’s New Zealand project is off to a flyer, read about the latest installment here.
Get in touch, why don’t you? Share all your thoughts, gripes, questions etc on the email.
Teams
South Africa
Aphelele Fassi; Jaco Williams, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Vusi Moyo, Cobus Reinach; Gerhard Steenekamp, Malcolm Marx, Carlu Sadie; Cobus Wiese, Ruben van Heerden; Paul de Villiers, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Wilco Louw, Ben-Jason Dixon, Marco van Staden, Herschel Jantjies, Manie Libbok, Damian Willemse.
Wales
Blair Murray; Louis Rees-Zammit, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carre, Dewi Lake, Dillon Lewis; Teddy Williams, Adam Beard; Alex Mann, Jac Morgan, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Ben Warren, Freddie Thomas, Tommy Reffell, James Botham, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Joe Hawkins.
Preamble
Sometimes, your job is difficult. Whether you’re a mechanic dealing with a tricky gasket, or the customer services desk staff in a supermarket faced with an angry person failing to understand you cannot return worn underwear, but especially if you are the coach of Wales men’s team within the hideous state of the superstructure all around you that apparently passes for the professional running of a major sport. Steve Tandy’s job is very difficult.
Added to this, the final fixture of a tricky summer is South Africa in Durban. Even a rotated Springbok team remains a keen foe, just ask Scotland, and this is what faces the swapped together and underpowered Cymru side today.
For the Boks, with the World Cup just over a year away and key players ageing, this will be another chance for Rassie Erasmus to cast an eye over some prospects for his next great transformation project. Vusi Moyo, the young and very green stand-off one of the more interesting selections.
It wasn’t too long ago that the men in red were securing their first ever Test win on these shores – 2022, Bloemfontain under Wayne Pivac. Today will not be the day they secure their second.
I know whose job I’d rather have.
