Malcolm Marx scored the decisive try as the Springboks fought from behind to claim a 23-18 victory over Wales, their first win in Cardiff since 2013. DYLAN JACK reports.
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The win saw the Springboks claim their first away win against Wales in almost eight years, even though it was not enough to see Jacques Nienaber’s team reclaim the number one spot in the world after New Zealand comfortably dismissed Italy earlier in the day.
While the Boks struggled to make their opportunities count and were once again haunted by some ill-discipline, that they managed to pull a win out of the hat against the Six Nations champions will do wonders for the team building towards the 2023 World Cup.
Matchflow: The Springboks went into the break 12-9 behind after a hotly-contested first half in which they were probably their own worst enemies. Whenever the Boks seemed to be gaining momentum and threatening, a plethora of penalties and errors cost them possession and territory.
To their credit, Wales did really well to punish the Springboks every time they made it into South African territory, with Dan Biggar slotting all four of his penalty attempts in the first 40.
South Africa had the better of the physical battle and were throwing players in to contest the breakdown, while they were unlucky not to get more from a dominant maul.
Damian Willemse was forced off in the first half due to a heavy head knock, to be replaced by Frans Steyn for the rest of the match, while Ox Nche was yellow-carded after a build up of penalties eventually had referee Paul Williams losing his patience.
Wales also lost loosehead prop Rhys Carre to a yellow card for maul infringements towards the end of the first half, with Handre Pollard getting his third penalty attempt through to make it a three-point game at the break.
The Springboks started the second half with good momentum. However, much like in first half, they couldn’t convert, lost the ball – due to excellent work from Ellis Jenkins – and then gave away a penalty which Dan Biggar converted to make it 15-9.
Steyn’s magnificent long-range penalty and Pollard’s fourth attempt drew the Boks momentarily level, but Biggar again punished some more poor discipline with his sixth penalty putting Wales 18-15 up with 15 minutes to play.
However, the Boks turned to their kicking game and maul, which finally paid dividends when Malcolm Marx went over the tryline for what turned out to be the decisive try, with Elton Jantjies adding a penalty after the hooter to seal the victory.
Players that shone: Frans Steyn replaced Damian Willemse early in the first half, but his experience in this match shone through as he provided a stablising force against Wales’ kicking game. His long-range penalty was converted at a key stage in the match and he was justifiably named the man of the match.
The Bok loose trio of Siya Kolisi, Duane Vermeulen and Kwagga Smith all enjoyed excellent performances. The latter showed that he can mix it in northern hemisphere conditions and his intervention at the death – ripping the ball just as Wales were building momentum – was almost as key as Marx’s try.
