Wales v South Africa Saturday 24th November 2018

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Wales v South Africa
Date: Saturday 24th November 2018

Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Kick Off: 5:20pm

Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

TV Coverage: Live on BBC Two and S4C

Wales will face South Africa at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday 24th November during the Under Armour Series 2018. This will be the fourth and final autumn international to be played by Wales in 2018. The two teams will compete for the Prince William Cup, which was created by the WRU in 2007 to celebrate 100 years of rugby between Wales and South Africa.

Wales have beaten the Springboks in each of their last three encounters. The most recent win came during a summer tour match in Washington DC, where Wales emerged 22-20 victors.

Wales and South Africa have contested a total of 34 rugby test matches since their first meeting in 1906. Wales have won five of those matches, whilst South Africa have won 28 matches. Wales and South Africa also drew a match in 1970.

Springboks coach Erasmus expecting 'toughest test'

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus says Wales will provide the toughest test of their tour.

The Springboks are hoping to build on victories against France and Scotland after a narrow loss against England.

Wales are on an eight-match unbeaten run and aiming to complete a first autumn clean sweep after beating Scotland, Australia and Tonga.

"We have four tough matches on this tour but are ending probably with the toughest," said Erasmus.

Wales have won their last three games against the Springboks with home victories in 2016 and 2017 and a tour triumph in Washington DC in June 2018.

"We desperately want to win and it will be a physical and tactical test," added Erasmus.

"The way they manage the game is a typical northern hemisphere side and Warren Gatland really understands the technical side.

"To keep a job like this in a rugby-mad country for so long shows his quality. What I can see from him in this specific cycle is the way he is building depth for the World Cup."

Captain Siya Kolisi is available after escaping with an official warning from World Rugby's citing commissioner for a head-butt incident in the 26-20 victory over Scotland.

Lock Eben Etzebeth also faces a fitness test on Tuesday on the leg injury that forced him off against England and resulted in him missing the wins over France and Scotland.

Erasmus says influential Sale Sharks scrum-half Faf de Klerk will miss the game because he wants to look at other nines like Embrose Papier and Ivan van Zyl.

De Klerk has been named on World Rugby's player of the year shortlist alongside fellow South African Malcolm Marx, New Zealand duo Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane and Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton.

De Klerk missed the victory over Scotland and was released back to Sale, although Erasmus has insisted there are no contractual issues.

Wales are ranked third in the world behind New Zealand and Ireland who defeated the All Blacks last weekend and Erasmus rates their World Cup chances.

"It's an open race," said Erasmus.

"New Zealand and Ireland are the clear favourites but Wales are hovering there and are almost like silent assassins at this stage.

"If we manage to beat Wales this weekend the only team we have not beaten who are real contenders is Ireland.

"That gives us hope but it will not be easy."

South Africa will be a different proposition from the team that lost in Cardiff last year with Erasmus taking over at the start of 2018.

It has still proved a mixed year of results but the Springboks managed a famous away win in New Zealand and lie fifth in the world rankings.

Come on Saffers

Yep, South Africa have lost because of the ref.

The Oracle wrote:Yep, South Africa have lost because of the ref.

That and some decent Welsh defending.

Again!

Not their Tour was it.

The Oracle wrote:Yep, South Africa have lost because of the ref.

Or will Wales win because of the ref? That’s potentially 4 wins because of the ref on the cards.

Third best in the world. We like it up here with you Irish boys and kiwi’s

What a crap ending to a great game for Jenkins.

Boy we’re you up against it there, well played though but when the Tmo robs you he robs you.

Didn’t look good for Ellis Jenkins.

Gutting for the lad hope he makes a quick recovery.

Well done Wales 4 from 4. Can we now call them 3rd best. For once the NH taking ranking points to stay up. Is it possible for Wales to get close to NZ/Ire or are they well behind

Congrats on the clean sweep Wales.

Bull Frak Poopie, there is a good reason why I will never spend money to watch a rugby game. A man and his whistle to try get the limelight.

But I suppose we have to listen to the ultra cliches about 'shouldve played better. blah blah blah'

Disgusting

protea438 wrote:Bull Frak Poopie, there is a good reason why I will never spend money to watch a rugby game. A man and his whistle to try get the limelight.

But I suppose we have to listen to the ultra cliches about 'shouldve played better. blah blah blah'

Disgusting

What’s that though, 4 from 4 against SA for Wales? That’s a lot of ref help.

Brendan wrote:Well done Wales 4 from 4.  Can we now call them 3rd best.  For once the NH taking ranking points to stay up.  Is it possible for Wales to get close to NZ/Ire or are they well behind

Agreed. It’s good at the top with you boys, I think we can turn you over in the 6N though and take first place, seeing as you’re now the best in the world .

protea438 wrote:Bull Frak Poopie, there is a good reason why I will never spend money to watch a rugby game. A man and his whistle to try get the limelight.

But I suppose we have to listen to the ultra cliches about 'shouldve played better. blah blah blah'

Disgusting

Congrats on your moral victory.

mikey_dragon wrote:

protea438 wrote:Bull Frak Poopie, there is a good reason why I will never spend money to watch a rugby game. A man and his whistle to try get the limelight.

But I suppose we have to listen to the ultra cliches about 'shouldve played better. blah blah blah'

Disgusting

What’s that though, 4 from 4 against SA for Wales? That’s a lot of ref help.

100%

The Oracle wrote:

protea438 wrote:Bull Frak Poopie, there is a good reason why I will never spend money to watch a rugby game. A man and his whistle to try get the limelight.

But I suppose we have to listen to the ultra cliches about 'shouldve played better. blah blah blah'

Disgusting

Congrats on your moral victory.

Burp

Commiserations to the level headed and passionate Biltong though. Now go and air-dry those anti-welsh wums the hell outta here (it’s still your job).

Still weird how no ‘neutral’ mentioned Ben O’Keefe. Another crappy kiwi ref.

I guess it’s always going to go off the rails if complaints are ignored. No idea why this is always allowed to happen when it’s aimed at Wales, oh well that’s a few more welsh posters driven away.

Not all moderating is done publicly Mikey and as we're all volunteers you're not going to get an instant response to complaints like you're demanding. Im not reading every single post on this site deciding whether to keep it or not. What helps significantly though is if people don't rise to them - that will prevent things getting worse while one of us has time to take a look. What also helps is only reporting posts that should be reported - complaining about a ref isn't always wumming - it is 99% of what people do on here!

For this thread to move on we need you to as well. 

Brendan wrote:Well done Wales 4 from 4.  Can we now call them 3rd best.

Don't think so. England have had a better autumn, and have beaten Wales on the last four occasions the two sides have played. Bookmakers, rightfully in my opinion, have England as third favourites for the World Cup.

mikey_dragon wrote:Commiserations to the level headed and passionate Biltong though. Now go and air-dry those anti-welsh wums the hell outta here (it’s still your job).

Not every criticism of Wales is a wind-up. I felt England got lucky with the officiating when they played South Africa a few weeks ago, I felt Wales were similarly lucky today.

Hmm looks like all the comments are still there though... I only see this on threads when Wales are playing, usually a waste of time speaking up about it when the mods partake too; but thanks for your intervention RDW and getting things back on track.

Complaining about the ref isn’t wumming but claiming the ref gave Wales the game on each and every Wales match thread is wumming. In fact, it’s blatantly winding up (I.e. ‘wumming’)!

Duty281 wrote:

Brendan wrote:Well done Wales 4 from 4.  Can we now call them 3rd best.

Don't think so. England have had a better autumn, and have beaten Wales on the last four occasions the two sides have played. Bookmakers, rightfully in my opinion, have England as third favourites for the World Cup.

A better autumn where they lost and struggled against Japan? Seems delusional.

Anyway, forget it. Easier not to post. I’ll move to another thread.

Fairplay to Wales. Tonga are up there with New Zealand as well, grand slam on the cards.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Brendan wrote:Well done Wales 4 from 4.  Can we now call them 3rd best.

Don't think so. England have had a better autumn, and have beaten Wales on the last four occasions the two sides have played. Bookmakers, rightfully in my opinion, have England as third favourites for the World Cup.

A better autumn where they lost and struggled against Japan? Seems delusional.

Um...lost to New Zealand, yes, an opponent that Wales would have also lost to (in all probability). Wales struggled against Australia, whilst England thumped them by a massive margin.

Even if we were to ignore that, though, the head-to-heads in the last four meetings bear out clear English supremacy.

The Oracle wrote:Complaining about the ref isn’t wumming but claiming the ref gave Wales the game on each and every Wales match thread is wumming. In fact, it’s blatantly winding up (I.e. ‘wumming’)!

Ok, well I don't do that.

Duty281 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Brendan wrote:Well done Wales 4 from 4.  Can we now call them 3rd best.

Don't think so. England have had a better autumn, and have beaten Wales on the last four occasions the two sides have played. Bookmakers, rightfully in my opinion, have England as third favourites for the World Cup.

A better autumn where they lost and struggled against Japan? Seems delusional.

Um...lost to New Zealand, yes, an opponent that Wales would have also lost to (in all probability). Wales struggled against Australia, whilst England thumped them by a massive margin.

Even if we were to ignore that, though, the head-to-heads in the last four meetings bear out clear English supremacy.

Yeah you lost. You had a crap summer tour and finished 5th in the 6N so here you are all bitter and constantly wumming in Wales threads. Very delusional.

The rankings reward consistency and they’re about right.

Duty281 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

Brendan wrote:Well done Wales 4 from 4.  Can we now call them 3rd best.

Don't think so. England have had a better autumn, and have beaten Wales on the last four occasions the two sides have played. Bookmakers, rightfully in my opinion, have England as third favourites for the World Cup.

A better autumn where they lost and struggled against Japan? Seems delusional.

Um...lost to New Zealand, yes, an opponent that Wales would have also lost to (in all probability). Wales struggled against Australia, whilst England thumped them by a massive margin.

Even if we were to ignore that, though, the head-to-heads in the last four meetings bear out clear English supremacy.

Um, no they dont. The rankings never lie. Wales are the better side currently.

And had the referee dealt with the ridiculous charge tackling of Farrell I expect the results in at least one of those games would have been different.

It was a try though, remember the ball only has to touch a blade of grass. Could have turned the game. Benefit of the doubt should go to the attacking team.

Nevermind see you in the 6 nations when the refs will use different rules again.

Congratulations Wales, a great Autumn for you. Next year promises to be very interesting!

TightHEAD wrote:It was a try though, remember the ball only has to touch a blade of grass. Could have turned the game. O

No try. Wales has three legit tries disallowed by TMO in the last 6N, glad these TMOs have got their act together to an extent, but Farrells cheap shots still require intervention.

Nice win for Wales. I do believe that is a clean sweep for Wales this Autum.

Well played did not see the game, too buisy watching England v Ireland womens game.

Who got man of the match?

Ellis Jenkins looked like an ACL so I would think he is likely to be out for the 6 nations, blooming shame as he looked great today.

Who was Man od the Match?

Ellis Jenkins, Madge.

Christ this thread is in the pits. Gutted I read through it. Still, while HERSH is allowed free reign, it’s not going to be a good thread. Once again, a poor show from a mod too and some other contributions on a Welsh thread are merely to moan about refereeing.

No class.

Never mind, I had a great day in hospitality there. Gatland played a blinder again with his starting XV (Jenkins not being initially selected aside) and timed most of his subs to perfection too. Hope Ellis Jenkins heals fast. ACL is a nasty injury. I wonder with how Wainwright played, whether Lydiate’s time in a Wales squad is coming to an end, particularly with Taulupe to come back in.

Good to see Wales have a good November for once. The six nations will be an absolute scorcher.

So if Wales usually have a shocker AIs then great 6N, does this mean after a great AIs theyre going to have a rubbish 6N?? 

From memory you've got a tough start with 2 away games - might have made that up though.

It was a funny scrum when our new front row came on. The scrum had been going well all game. Really stable, an equal match for the Boks. And then we sent on Rob Evans (who I rate highly), Dee and Wyn Jones - fresh legs - and they mullered us and got a penalty straight away! I thought that would be the game gone and they’d over take us but we steadied the ship and pulled through.

Agree Jenkins was class. He was everywhere. Sam who?! Such bad luck to get badly injured at the end.

I still think we’ve regressed a bit from the jinking, offloading game we seemed to be developing over the last 18 months as we transition away from Gatlandball. However, we were against good opposition so perhaps we needed to keep it tighter and there would have been less space out there than in other games where we’ve been able to chuck it about a bit more.

I thought Biggar did well when he came on. He not only steadied the ship but his kicks from hand created a few problems for the Boks - he just had a bit more accuracy and invention with his chips over and kick chase in the short time he had. Great to have a few options, with Patchell still a very good option too (probably the most attaking of the 3).

RDW_Scotland wrote:So if Wales usually have a shocker AIs then great 6N, does this mean after a great AIs theyre going to have a rubbish 6N?? 

From memory you've got a tough start with 2 away games - might have made that up though.

Yeah, that’s my worry RDW! We’re not a good team with the favourites tag (favourites for individual games I mean. I’m not saying we’re favourites for the whole 6N ), so if expectations are high I expect us to struggle a bit

But depth has never been so good. And I think it was all down to Gats being forced to try new players our last 6N when there were so many injuries post Lions. Those brought in showed they could mix it and others on the Argie tour put their hands up, and voila.... we’re looking like a decent squad rather than just a decent 15 if all are injury free.

Cheers RiscaGame

Have not had a chance to see the game yet.

All this talk about biased refereeing, yet all these eagle eyes fail to spot a SA player wearing an ear piece at one point. I’m sure we will see some balance on this thread shortly.

RiscaGame wrote:All this talk about biased refereeing, yet all these eagle eyes fail to spot a SA player wearing an ear piece at one point. I’m sure we will see some balance on this thread shortly.

I saw that - I wonder if the rule book covers the eventuality of a water carrier giving his headset to a player to get direction from the coach on the pitch! 

I personally don't see much wrong with it during breaks in play as long as it doesn't become a common occurrence holding up the game - the water carriers are giving coaches messages anyway.

RiscaGame wrote:All this talk about biased refereeing, yet all these eagle eyes fail to spot a SA player wearing an ear piece at one point. I’m sure we will see some balance on this thread shortly.

Did not see a huge amount of the game, but did catch that. I feel using coaches as Waterboys, seen in club rugby, is taking the loss .... but this was imo shocking and should be stamped out.


Wales still won to round out a magnificent AI period. Huge congratulations.

It’s against the laws. Rule 4.5h. “A player must not wear communication devices.”

Would be nice to see an apology from these ref bashers, when the most blatant form of cheating was ignored. I’ll not hold my breath. We also won’t talk about the legality of Marx’s turnovers and a small matter of supporting your own body weight. Minor details.

https://twitter.com/macca291170/status/1066405225559412738?s=21

Is the Welsh team that played against the Boks the team for the coming 6ns/world cup?

Or is there more players to come back in to the team/squad?