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.

He was quoting a tweet and it was more about belief that 'right'

for me im obviousyl absolutely gutted, im not going to say proud because they are there to win and against the top teams in the world you have to play well in order to win, at the end of the day it was a ball going the wrong side off the post on two occasions which cost us the game....that happens in professional sport the good thing is this is a young squad who can learn from that dissapointment and nail it next time,

what was pleasing for me was the fact that the team were in that posiiton to have those kicks to win the game, its somewhere we havent really been before,

warburton, charteris (cant believe how much negative criticism he gets) faletau priestland and roberts were very good for me,

what i hope doesnt happen is because weve ran the boks so close is now expect to turn up and steamroller fiji or samoa, the squad need to reset on monday and prepare in exactly the same way and play exactly the same way-error free game and then well secure our qf spot...and form there who knows...

wales should have won, south africa will have to raise their game

Gav,

I think the mindset it different to 4 years ago where we most probaly did expect to turn up and win against Fiji.

Hopefully the guys are gutted at mo but then look at way the youngsters performed and take heart with aim of not feeling like that again and go forward to the quarters at least.

with people like Shane, Stevo and Bennett still in the squad from the last rwc, can't see them let the rest of the team think they can give anything other then their best against Samoa and Fiji. We're into knock out rugby already, essentially.

Hook also had a penalty overruled in the opening period, referee Wayne Barnes adjudging it had gone wide although TV replays suggested it may have drifted in.
Francois Steyn said in the tunnel at half-time he thought it had gone over


If he overruled then there must have been doubt amongst the officials why was the TMO not used ?

ah Cymro, that's just going to be one of those things. Hard to take but now we'll never know. It could very well have curled in after it went past the post. Have to say I thought it had gone over at the time though.

We all know the boks won by the thinnest of fag papers today. The boks should just think themselves lucky because they were matched in every department.

i think its just one of those things tbh, some you get some you dont,

i hope that todays performance sets the bench mark for welsh performances against the top nations in the future,

we must bring thast level of intensity/physicality to every game and ONLY then will we be in with a CHANCE of winning these games

Agreed Gavin.

Can honestly say I can't remember the last time we played with such intensity for the full 80 (well 78 then, we weren't at the races the first 2 mins). 2008 the closest to it I think.

i was impressed with the way wales played

I have to agree with that tweet. Sure Wales were
dominating us and we certainly were lucky not to
lose, at no point did I even think "we've lost this".
Please don't mistake it for arrogance, but its just
the confidence I had in the guys coming off the
bench.
At that stage wales played as good as they ever
could and weren't out of sight, I just felt the
reserves could give us a boost which our welsh
counterparts couldn't match and that experience
from coming back against them in similar
positions will see us home.
Again I'll be the first to admit we were definitely
lucky that their kicks didn't go over and that their
bench isn't half as good as ours

i would say our bench is good but like you said deadgoat the experience in your bench paid divident i mean ussually we would have SJ on the bench to calm the game down and get penalty kicks (groan mumble ...) but tbf for a young welsh squad wasnt a bad effort was it- and i do think our backrow completely dominated yours if truth be told

just cant believe how sick i actually felt after the match never been like that before. i guess we will have to meet you boks in the final and show you how rugby really is played

tbh before the game when everyone was saying that the boks were for the taking and that their form was poor i was the first to point out that their form was against the two tops teams in the world....

i was pleasantly surprised at how well we played...

HOWEVER,

does this just confirm that SA are a team on the decline OR is it that wales have it in their armory to compete and push and beat the 3n sides on the biggest stage?

big question Gav. Reckon we need to wait and see how we perform against Samoa though, see if we can back up this level of performance. Then we can consider if we are capable of regularly matching the big 3, as it were.

For as well as we did play today, we still made a lot of mistakes as well.

Cymroglan wrote:Hook also had a penalty overruled in the opening period, referee Wayne Barnes adjudging it had gone wide although TV replays suggested it may have drifted in.
Francois Steyn said in the tunnel at half-time he thought it had gone over


If he overruled then there must have been doubt amongst the officials why was the TMO not used ?

did the TJ's put their flags up?? cant remember (hangover)

@welshy, definitely agree that your backrow as a unit dominated in the 2nd half. Brussow and Burger had outstanding games individually, but Spies was anonymous so as a unit we weren't great. Warburton (who is now officially my favourite NH player btw) was outstanding throughout the game, Lydiate and Faleatu had awful 1st halves but were incredible in the 2nd.

With Mike Phillips taking so long to get his passes away I sometimes wonder why do the Wales even bother at the breakdown tbh

EDIT: @knackeredknees, TJ's never raised their flags. I have no idea where this "WB overruled his TJ's" nonsense is coming from

Phillips' passes was as ever slow but he done some other good things.

Our back row IMO can only get better Lydiate was everywhere and Falatau grew into the game after few early mistakes.

Knackeredknees
As far as I'm aware they just looked at each other without raising the flag camera went on Barnes he seemed to have made the decision for them.

deadgoat
It was said during the commentary that the ref had overruled It's also on the BBC website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/14811173.stm

I'd have to watch 'that' pentalty again, but this is the first I've heard / read of any controversy. Not 1 person in the pub (full) batted an eyelid at any kick aside from the continuation of the trend of missed kicks to goal.

Wales - played very well, showed true grit.

Boks -below par but showed once again that they have the mental toughness to close out tight games. I can see them going all the way, despite that performance.

Hats off to both teams, great game and even as a neutral my nerves were shot at 80 mins.

The attitude of "we won't lose" comes with winning regularly. It's not arrogance, just the knowledge that you've survived this type of situation before. It was the same for me as a Leicester and England fan in the early 00s. Leicester could be 6 behind with 3-4 mins on the clock and in their own 22 and yet as a fan you just thought "I reckon we'll score here and pinch it" - and then we would. If Wales keep playing that well then they will beat teams and start to get that mentality.

The only way it would have been over-ruled is if the assistants put their flags up. If they didn't then there was no over-ruling.

You can't judge a kick with the TMO if it went over the posts. There's no depth perception. If it went through them then it's fine because you can see the ball pass in front or behind them. Barnes and the assistants had the best view with the benefits of binocular vision. Roll on 3D I say.

EDIT: either that or a Hawkeye type thing

HammerofThunor they don't need to put the flag up they could simply say that they are unsure.
The TMO has been used before in judging if a ball has gone between the posts or not.

GavinDragon wrote:HOWEVER,
does this just confirm that SA are a team on the decline OR is it that wales have it in their armory to compete and push and beat the 3n sides on the biggest stage?

I didn't see the match, and it sounds like I missed the match of the first round, and possibly the match of the tournament (is that fair to say or too early)?

But, I hope the answer to your question is the latter, that Wales could possibly be knocking on the door to the big boys. More teams at the top is good for Rugby. I don't want to see anyone in decline (except for an unnamed club in the south of France - but thats personal).

I missed the end too but its does seem like on their day Wales could beat somebody.

I couldn't quite see from where I was watching it, was it unclear because it went over the top of the posts or was it clearly to one side?

It seemed to turn in but it was too close and too important a decision not to have used the technology available,

Yeah it was strange, Barnes seemed to call for the TMO but then nothing came of it.

Highlights on ITV 1 now if you want to see it again.

This is what Warburton had to say about the kick.

Wales captain Sam Warburton, who had asked referee Wayne Barnes to ask the Television Match Official to take a look at the kick, was keen to move on, too.

"Even if it had been given, it might have changed the mindset of the South Africans, and they could have come back," the flanker said. "It was in the first half, and there was still 60-odd minutes to go, so you can't blame the game on that. It's hard to say what would have happened."

Just seen it again now, and to me it STILL looks like it curled inwards slightly and went over inside the post. However, I don't know what the view was from on the ground. I still think it wouldn't have done any harm to go to the TMO. Anyway, it's done now and we can't change anything. It'll just be one of those controversial decisions. Still a great game and fantastic performance from Wales. They didn't make it easy for SA as assumed.

I agree with Warburton on that to be fair. We had our other chances to win it with the DG attempt and Hooky's penalty.

I would have liked a TMO to look at it (as I'm with Cari, it does look like it curled in!) but who knows how it would have affected the game. Tis done now.

Doctor Grey - watch it on iPlayer if you can. You missed a corker - even for neutrals.

But then again maybe not..... I'm not taking anything away from South Africa but when teams have been preparing for a major tournament like this we expect the officials to do all they can to ensure accuracy.
If the shoe was on the other foot I'm sure you would feel the same.

biltongbek wrote:This is what Warburton had to say about the kick.

Wales captain Sam Warburton, who had asked referee Wayne Barnes to ask the Television Match Official to take a look at the kick, was keen to move on, too.

"Even if it had been given, it might have changed the mindset of the South Africans, and they could have come back," the flanker said. "It was in the first half, and there was still 60-odd minutes to go, so you can't blame the game on that. It's hard to say what would have happened."

That's good sense from the captain. We lost because we couldn't turn significant pressure and possession into points. SA won because they were more composed and took their few opportunities. I'm proud of our performance and I've no complaints at the result. I'm just angry that we weren't good enough to close it out.

Yes, I agree I would, but not 20 minutes into a game, a decision like that could have awarded Wales three points, but then by the same token the match could have turned out totally different as well.

There was a penalty opportunity for us when Warburton ran back and didn't enter the ruck from the gate in the second half, right in front of the posts, instead of us getting the penalty he did, and so you can go look at probably another number of incidents where the referee made a mistake.

The fact is there were still 60 minutes to go, and the whole match would have changed.

I just wish we can win a match without any controversies for a change, because it always leaves a sour taste.

Biltong - I have to say, having watched the highlights, the SA team looked a little....relieved at the end? They weren't jumping for joy anyway. I reckon they had a bit of a shock.

Cari, that was a tough match for them, I think we were all relieved.

I was watching Masterplan New Zealand, a local show with Garth Wright, John Mitchell and Allistair coetzee being hosted by Joel Stransky, and they analysed the weekend's matches.

Two things they mentioned on the Wales SA test was, firstly that was the best they have seen Wales play ever.

Secondly they were talking about the game plan SA employed and they were talking about earning the right to play wide which SA started off in the first minute, but according to their game plan that shouldn't have happened, and then they also spoke about (and showed) how The welsh with Roberts and your number 8 (forget his name now) targeted Morne Steyn in the second half and that was where the line breaks came from.

Essentially showing that with morne Steyn slipping tackles the whole defensive line was under pressure.

Faletau was at 8 Biltong. he really came good in the secoond half. What an introduction to the RWC for him though. I almost cried!!

Another thing I noticed, and the panel here pointed it out, was that Hook indicated a TMO decision after his kick, but I guess it wasn't seen or it's not up to him. Just one of those things.

The only disappointing thing about Faletau was that he cut off his amazing afro

I agree wholeheartedly with Warburton but it still begs the question with the technology readily available why not use it?

Let's just be grateful that (IMO) the right decision was made and that it had no effect on the game. If this was in the final and the call was against NZ and it ended up costing them the WC, the London riots would have nothing on what would ensue in Auckland that night.

IronMike wrote:The only disappointing thing about Faletau was that he cut off his amazing afro

I think Mama Molitika has stolen it...did you see the Blues game earlier? MM's hair's huge!!

Yeah that's him.

It was amazing to see how our defensive lines were perfectly aligned in the first half vs the second half. I am sure Gatland instructed Faletau and roberts to target the Morne Steyn and Fourie du Preez channel during the hlaf time break.

That was a good Welsh performance but if they thought that was the best Welsh performance ever then they have missed loads of games over the years.

Cymroglan, just accept the compliment, no need to always have some smirky comment.

Cymroglan wrote:But then again maybe not..... I'm not taking anything away from South Africa but when teams have been preparing for a major tournament like this we expect the officials to do all they can to ensure accuracy.
If the shoe was on the other foot I'm sure you would feel the same.

Trouble is there only seems to be two angles available so it woulds still be inconclusive, as you cant see if its turns in before its over.
Plus its only the ref that can ask for the forth official, otherwise youl'd have players requesting everthing (like lineouts using the correct ball)

For god sake I'm allowed to have a opinion
If you type something you seem to think we should just accept is as gospel.

No, but every time I type something you feel the need to be sarcastic.

If i give the average age of the springbok squad, you feel the need to argue the fact.

When I give a compliment to your team , you feel the need to be sarcastic.

suck it up and change your attitude, and feel free to report me if you want, because it is impossible to have a conversation with you.

Your friends said that was the best Welsh performance ever and I'm supposed to take that as a compliment when I believe they are wrong.
What is the point of you posting anything if we cant debate about it.
Or do you post stuff and expect us to think you are right all the time ?