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5 hours ago
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Key events
75 mins. A lineout for Wales on the Bok 10m line gives them a platform to attempt once again to score. This platform collapses like bamboo scaffolding at the first ruck when the Ref blasts his whistle to award a penalty to South Africa.
72 mins. Mee marks the ball after an aimless Jantjies kick. He clears it up field for De Allende to return the favour.
In the midst of the awfulness for Wales, it should be noted they have defended mauls very well, so much so the Boks are not hammering the tactic.
70 mins. Wales have looked about as likely to score in this match as bloke who plays dominoes with the pieces face down, and this continues as we enter the final ten minutes. South Africa either have the ball or are two phases max away from having the ball.
TRY! South Africa 36 - 0 Wales (Kurt-Lee Arendse)
68 mins. During a cacophonous noise form the crowd in the 67th minute as a celebration of Nelson Mandela’s birthday, Arendse receives the ball once more and this time is free to race over into the corner.
66 mins. Jantjies springs left from a scrum in the Wales 22. The ball is fed to Arendse who jinks a couple before the defence stops him and the recycle sees a pass chucked into touch. No matter as they were on an advantage from the scrum and will go at Wales again.
YELLOW CARD! Ben Warren (Wales)
64 mins. The TMO draws the attention of Ref Brace to Ben Warren tackle on Van Staden. Warren was a bit high and while it looks like initial contact was on the shoulder the ref considers it meeting the foul play threshold as it was veyr close to Van Staden’s chin.
The Wales replacement prop is off for at least 10 minutes.
TRY! South Africa 31 - 0 Wales (Herchel Jantjies)
63 mins. Willemse is off the bench to bring his quality to the late stages of the match, and he starts by stepping around a defender to feed Williams on the right wing to run free. He looks inside to find Jantjies who canters over unopposed.
61 mins. South Africa opt for another scrum after a penalty is awarded at, yout guessed it, a scrum in the Wales 22. They race up to the line but the defence holds the ball up. Wales drop-out.
58 mins. Libbok floats a delightful cross-kick over Mee’s head for Williams to slap down towards Kriel in support. The entre cannot clasp the ball, shouting in frustration with the line begging only a few metres away.
56 mins. That tiniest of resurgences from Wales is now over, with South Africa back on attack in visiting territory. The storm gathers via some carries before Fassi knocks on, allowing the ball to be cleared from the scrum.
53 mins. Another lineout for Wales in the SA 22 this time is fed to Hawkins on the crash ball, who is stopped dead at the tackle line and has no support to clear out De Villiers. The Bok back row yoinks the ball with the ease of a litter picker.
50 mins. The more phases Wales’s forwards run at the green defence the more small dips in the precision of resourcing the ruck appear, leading inevitably to them being penalised. It comes in the form of Elias sealing off and the ball is booted clear by Libbok.
48 mins. The visitors are enjoying their best period of play, which in this game admittedly is a little like enjoying taking off a very tight pair of shoes you’ve been wearing all day. It feels better but it’s not achieving much. They are back in the 22 and forcing repeated penalties from the Boks, no yellow cards nor any Wales points thus far.
45 mins. There is the rare sight of some actual phases of rugby in the attacking 22 from Wales, probing the green defensive wall. They are in a good position before Hawkins, on at half time, takes the poor option of a grubber that Fassi easily reads to gather and kick clear.
43 mins. Wales attempt to shrug off that horrendous start to the half via a lineout and towering kick into the Bok 22 from Edwards. Fassi makes a mess of it with a knock-on, which ends a penalty advantage from the lineout. The ball is sent to touch on the South Africa 5m line.
TRY! South Africa 26 - 0 Wales (Jaco Williams)
41 mins. A weak clearing kick from Edward goes not very far , and a slap back from a Wales hand falls to Williams who has a free run to the line for the easiest debut try anyone will ever score.
Moyo adds two.
Second half!
We’re back off and running.
Late team news for England later on from Robert Kitson, our man at the at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades
A pre match update from Santiago del Estero where England’s replacement prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour has withdrawn from today’s Test against Argentina because of concussion.
Opoku-Fordjour failed an HIA following a training ground collision so Bristol’s George Kloska will replace him as tighthead prop cover having made his debut against Fiji last Saturday.
Opoku-Fordjour had been set to make his first appearance in Argentina since being the target of racial abuse by a small group of Pumas fans in San Juan last year.
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.
