SA vs Wales match report.

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A capacity crowd at the Cake Tin in Wellington witnessed a tense close affair between a young energised Wales team and the old guard from South Africa.

For me mixed feelings, great that we won, but not good for the nerves.

Within the first five minutes South Africa scored a very well worked try which was well finished by Frans Steyn who overall had a good match for the Springboks.

But the Welsh never stopped pressurising the Springboks, they came into the game after the first ten minutes and dominated territory and possession for the res of the first half scoring 2 penalties to South Africa’s one.

Going into the dressing room at halftime the welsh must have felt they were in with a good shout trailing by 6 points to ten, and immediately in the second half started their fight back, a early penalty saw them trail by only 1 point. As south Africa started gaining some possession and territory they had two very good opportunities in the Welsh half with some good attacking phase play only to have indiscipline cost them penalties and possession.

When Wales scored their only try of the match they took the lead by 16 points to 10 on the 60 minute mark and there was a resurgence in their attacking play. It was only when SA made some replacements, that they started gaining some front foot ball and it was the busy little utility back Francois Hougaardt who managed to burst through under the posts to bring up South Africa’s second try. With ten minutes to go it was all to play for and Wales got a penalty that went wide.

In the last five minutes it was clear that both teams were desperate to stay in the oppositions half to avoid penalty opportunities.

Eventually a hard fought win the Springboks outscoring Wales two tries to one.

Positives for Wales.
They focused for 80 minutes, Warburton deservedly the man of the match, but overall you have to admit that their forward pack did very well against the much touted Springbok pack.

Something to work on for Wales
I felt they kicked a little too much especially during the first half, and although their runners did gain metres in the second half they were looking very busy but often gained no ground in the first stanza.

Positives for South Africa
They showed guts, they played 80 minutes of hard rugby and scored some well worked tries.

Something to work on for the Springboks
They need to work on their discipline on attack, too often they give away penalties after putting together phases and getting into a scoring position. Victor Matfield, his injury may not be sorted. They also need to work on retaining more possession.

Match Statistics
Tries SA 2 Wales 1
Penalties Wales 3 SA 1
Conversion SA 2 Wales 1
Territory Wales 58% SA 42%
Possession Wales 60% SA 40%
Braekdowns Wales 123 SA 87
Turn overs won SA 5 Wales 3
Penalties conceded SA 10 Wales 5
7+phases Wales 8 SA 4

Congratulations to the Bokke, you made my heart stop a few times, well done to Wales, it is getting closer every time.

Knees - on the highlights it did show Barnes gesturing for the TMO, but guess there just weren't enough camera shots avaiable for it to have been useful. Thems the breaks.

No Cymroglan you are correct, I will Foe you now and then I can't see your opinions and don't have to respond to them.

I debate with many people here and it seems to be only you I have a problem with.

Thats fine by me.

the dust has settled,result= boks win,let's get to the quarters and on that performance a semi is very doable.

When all the fuss has died down I think Wales can take a lot out of that effort. They are going to need it against Samoa and Fiji, both of whom- Samoa more so- I think will give them as hard a match as SA did.

Wales BIGGEST problem will be to go into the Samoa match with any sense of complacency around nearly skinning a top 3. Samoa are on the biggest high of any team after the win against Oz and their support in Hamilton will be overwhelming.

SA will go away and try to find answers to things they couldnt do last night. Morne Steyn I still believe is a risk waiting to happen although with a game up their sleeve and a cold hard prod by Wales I think SA will ease out the rest of their pool.

Wales played brilliantly compared to any I have seen them in the last year or two but that is now their problem- backing it up against Samoa will be all the much harder, and Wales arent so good at putting teams away- they seem to play at the level of their opposition, regardless of who it is (a la Fiji last year).

Still reckon they were lucky Biltong. When you're standing there watching a drop goal or a penalty kick, either of which would most likely have closed out the game- all you can do is 'hope' they miss- at that point its out of your hands- and that requires a little bit of luck. So its in that context I use the word lucky. Yes Wales didnt convert either, but SA had no part in the outcome other than perhaps having applied pressure, relying on a miss. Both times.

This really is the pool of death and big matches to come as well.

Well done both teams. Highlight of the weekend for me.

Taylorman wrote:When all the fuss has died down I think Wales can take a lot out of that effort. They are going to need it against Samoa and Fiji, both of whom- Samoa more so- I think will give them as hard a match as SA did.

Wales BIGGEST problem will be to go into the Samoa match with any sense of complacency around nearly skinning a top 3. Samoa are on the biggest high of any team after the win against Oz and their support in Hamilton will be overwhelming.

SA will go away and try to find answers to things they couldnt do last night. Morne Steyn I still believe is a risk waiting to happen although with a game up their sleeve and a cold hard prod by Wales I think SA will ease out the rest of their pool.

Wales played brilliantly compared to any I have seen them in the last year or two but that is now their problem- backing it up against Samoa will be all the much harder, and Wales arent so good at putting teams away- they seem to play at the level of their opposition, regardless of who it is (a la Fiji last year).

Still reckon they were lucky Biltong. When you're standing there watching a drop goal or a penalty kick, either of which would most likely have closed out the game- all you can do is 'hope' they miss- at that point its out of your hands- and that requires a little bit of luck. So its in that context I use the word lucky. Yes Wales didnt convert either, but SA had no part in the outcome other than perhaps having applied pressure, relying on a miss. Both times.

This really is the pool of death and big matches to come as well.

Well done both teams. Highlight of the weekend for me.

I agree to a certain extent, the Boks were lucky that penalty wasnt given( i think it was 3 points imo) and Priestland missed a sitter in front of goal . HOWEVER we werent lucky to score the try that eventually won the game .That was pure experience and the belief that they could win the game against a better team on the day .

Well.........back to the discussion. I have always felt the two touch judges/assistant referees have the best angle to call kicks at goal. Even better than a TV replay because, as someone mentioned earlier, they see the kick in 3D compared to a replay which is only in two dimensions. And we have two of them. If the question is whether the kick curled in before or after the posts it might be very hard to see accurately on TV.

For the sake of all, including one of my close mates who bleeds full red dragon blood (his words) and whose garden is proudly full of daffodils, I hope this was the right call.

One more quick point, if Wales can fight the Boks straight up, now let's see them handle the other countries in their pool and run into the knock-outs on a big roll. Now that will add a little spice to the tournament, eh?

Doctor. Simple fact is the posts werent high enough, or the kick was too high. If they were likelihood is that the ball would have hit it- then who knows.

The ball swirled back late- possibly after it crossed the try line and the touch judge wouldnt be looking at anything after.

so next time- either put it down the middle, or don't kick it so high. Simple.

i don't see why we should be moaning about the kick, we will sound like the Irish, crying over the Line out in the 6 Nations... Bottom line is our lads gave everything they had for Wales, and we lost.
The result is in the history book, lets look forward to next weeks game against Samoa.

cymru/biltong just for the record in my opinion that WAS the best welsh performance of the professional era

Well that was my opinion as well, but................

For possibly the first and only time in my life I'd say nothing about that performance should change in future games against other teams. There was frankly nothing wrong with the tactics or the way they were executed but they absolutely have to be replicated on a consistant basis if Wales want to make the step up to the elite. They should have bought us the result, the ONLY thing that needs to change is the finishing.

If we had taken half the chances that presented themselves we could have closed the game out. All for the majority of possession and territory we were able to secure the Boks still scored more tries and overall more points than us because they're more clinical and adapted to making the result safe than we are.

If we play that way against Samoa and add the minimum required limit for finishing opportunities off then we should honestly be good for 5 or 6 tries. It's not to say that's what will happen but it has to if we're looking to maintain any hope.

Knowsit it is true that a team should use all their chances, but that goes two ways mate, we had some missed opportunities in the first half and two opportunities close to your line in the second half and both times got penalised for indiscipline, so whether a team misses those chances by knocking on, or penalties or poor decision making it all boils down to the fact that both teams have left opportunities on the floor.

biltong, serious question here, what points did the boks leave on the field today? you had two entries into our half and scored two tries, pretty damn clinical if you ask me

it doesnt matter in the grand scheme of the discussion just can honestly not think of sa wasting chances today, but will stand corrected if im wrong

For me thats the best 80 minutes weve played against a southern hemisphere side including the games weve won in longer than 30 years. Rarely have we have such good possession and territory stats.

The question is how they react to this defeat, if they keep the intensity the bravery and the discipline in the rest of teh group games then we will go through on 14 points.

I think there are enough guys there from 2007 to make sure the boys keep their focus.

SA will get better but dont underestimate how well the welsh played today. Who knows, England got drubbed in the first game in 2007 and still made it to the final. Im certainly not scared of a quarter final against the ozzies.

TycroesOsprey wrote:

SA will get better but dont underestimate how well the welsh played today. Who knows, England got drubbed in the first game in 2007 and still made it to the final. Im certainly not scared of a quarter final against the ozzies.

Your certainly brave. I for one wouldnt want the Boks facing the Aussies anytime soon cause those criminals in yellow jersey's are in no mood to mess around .They'll any and everyone apart

biltong, you had far less possession and territory than we did. As I recall you entered our 22 twice and scored converted tries on both occasions. Steyn also nailed the only kick at goal the Boks chose to go for. Clinical is the word my friend and by the end of the day it handed you the win, albeit only just.

Off the back of about 60% apiece in territory and possession and a healthy number of ferocious breaks (Roberts left, right and centre) we ought to have come away with more than one try. The platforms were superbly set up and the right amount of work put in, I honestly can't see anthing I would opt to change except for the finishing

GavinDragon wrote:biltong, serious question here, what points did the boks leave on the field today? you had two entries into our half and scored two tries, pretty damn clinical if you ask me

Gavindragon we had two visits in your 22 where we were penalised for going off our feet, and Morne Steyn missed a drop goal.

Knowsit17 wrote:biltong, you had far less possession and territory than we did. As I recall you entered our 22 twice and scored converted tries on both occasions. Steyn also nailed the only kick at goal the Boks chose to go for. Clinical is the word my friend and by the end of the day it handed you the win, albeit only just.

Off the back of about 60% apiece in territory and possession and a healthy number of ferocious breaks (Roberts left, right and centre) we ought to have come away with more than one try. The platforms were superbly set up and the right amount of work put in, I honestly can't see anthing I would opt to change except for the finishing

Knowsit you did have visits in our 22, but I just watched the match again, in the first half you had that missed penalty, in the second half although visiting our 22, there were no real chances apart from the missed drop goal on 70 minutes and the missed penalty on 72 minutes. When I am talking real chance then I mean clean breaks with momentum on your side and no defenders there.

TycroesOsprey wrote:Who knows, England got drubbed in the first game in 2007 and still made it to the final. Im certainly not scared of a quarter final against the ozzies.

Minor point but it was the second game. And we had no fly half in that game (we did spurn 13 shots at goal right?).

It's not over for Wales by a long shot. Use this to focus the mind and you could be beating South Africa in the final

That was the first time I have seen a SA team play with a drawf in the back row, I suspect SA miss Smith, he is a great player in my opinion. It will be interesting if SA have lost both their second row's for the next couple of rounds. On that note, why Wales did not seriously challenge the SA line out is beyond me? I think Wales are lacking a captain with experience such as the penalty kick and demand the TMO, composure in attack, penalties and attacking the line outs!

Just finished watching the match,very impressed with Wales for once they felt they could win.Nelief in these matches is everything.They had the best
of the Forward exchanges,only in the final scrum were they under pressure.
Matched Boks at break down ,and shaded the lineouts.
Brilliant start by the Boks,first time they went wide they scored a try.When they tried to run it they looked dangerous.
Goal kicking Morne Steyn,slotted all 3,Hook 3 from 5,one controversially
discounted.ITV coverage is poor an incident like that should be shown in slow motion,if doubt consult TMO.wayne Barnes is happy too in other recent matches.
Boks found enough when fresh legs came on to close out match,a lot of sloppy handling,and decision making on both sides.
Scrum front row mafia on both sides tried milking penalties,barnes was`nt havin any.
Three drop goals missed,where to now Boks have Matfield ,DeVilliers injured,also Bakkies Botha on the way home ?.If so is Andries Bekker now fit enough to parachute in?
Piinaar kept on about a lot of Bok injuries presumably the 21 Missing in actions .Secretly hidden and trained by Erasmus for this RWC,it looked like they expected to walk this match without any trouble.
For sure they won a few games together come Semi`s they will be formidable IF they get there.
Wales,must now try to keep to that peak for the rest of RWC,if they can they may make at least the Semis.
Only one thing bugged me,delivery from the Breakdown was very laboured at times,quick hands openside[instead of going blind],Or going into contact again,may have paid dividends.Also there was some pretty aimless kicking at times.Versus the All Blacks or Wallabies maybe France as well ball would have been run straight back at you.

good summary emack, agree with a lot of that.

Slow delivery has been a problem for a while for Phillips, but he actually had one of his better games today. Big room for improvement still though.

i stand corrected bilton

You guys do know that those injuries are the ones that kept them away from the 3N don't you? So it seems like the 21 might have been really injured after all.