By Lucky Maree
➤ With minutes to go:
To be honest, seeing Siya Kolisi on the field after so long is an emotional experience. (In spite of his passionate rendition of the national anthem, if anybody wants to know, Siya is a much better rugby player than a singer.)
Andrew Brace, the ref who didn’t send Juan Mallia off after he put Grant Williams out of the match against Argentina is the man in the middle.
While the South African team is ready to play as selected, the Red Dragon of Wales, already up against it, has lost three players including Dan Biggar through injury.
➤ The match:
For the first few minutes, Wales have possession, but when they lose the ball, Kolisi easily breaks over the advantage line and offloads beautifully to Malcolm Marx who scores in the corner.
The conversion is just wide and when Wales score a penalty, the Springboks lead by two.
At the early stage of the match, it appears that the Springboks are very threatening in the loose – but are still not totally confident under the high ball.
And the scrums? Well, it’s going to be a very long day for the Welsh front row.
From a scrum penalty, Libbok takes a shot. Does it matter that he misses? We’ll find out.
From a penalty, Welsh stand-in flyhalf Sam Costelow puts the ball over the crossbar. Wales leads by one point.
Canan Moodie’s try comes after RG Snyman goes on the run. Hendrikse, Marx, Wiese and others handle until Le Roux passes the ball to the wing. South Africa’s second try is a beauty. The conversion, thankfully, is over.
South Africa’s defence easily deals with an attack from the Welsh. The Welsh, on the other hand, are at full stretch in defence.
On 33 minutes, Andrew Brace takes an agonising four or five minutes to decide that South Africa get a penalty try and Rio Dyer goes into the bin. The right decision? Debatable.
When play starts again, Cheslin Kolbe catches Mason Grady in the in-goal area and Jesse Kriel is on hand to score the try. Probably the only worrying aspect for the Boks is Libbok’s inaccuracy. He fails with the conversion and immediately kicks a ball directly into touch.
At halftime, South Africa leads by 9-24 – but Wales have not been in the match for more than a minute or two. It’s great to see Siya Kolisi right in the thick of things and looking strong.
The big question is will Libbok stay on for the second half with Damian Willemse sitting on the bench? It’s a tough call. Kolisi is replaced by Marco van Staden and that’s a good decision.
When it looks as if Wales is going to score after South Africa once again fumble the high ball, but it is not to be. An intercept by Pieter-Steph du Toit leads to a breakaway try for Jesse Kriel. After 50 minutes, South Africa now leads by 22 points and the match is all but over.
Pieter-Steph has virtually carried over the try line and scores South Africa’s sixth try – and a minute later, Canan Moodie intercepts and scores the seventh under the posts.
Damian Willemse gets his turn to score a try but immediately gets a yellow card for a dangerous tackle that may be upgraded to red.
While the Springboks are down to 14 players, Sam Parry scores a try for Wales – well-deserved for the hardworking Welsh forwards.
Wales (1 try) 16-52 (8 tries) South Africa
Pictured above: Siya Kolisi in action
Image source: Springboks
