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Wales once again failed to score a point against South Africa as the Springboks won the Nations Championship 43-0 in Durban.
South Africa won their previous meeting 73-0 in November while Wales conceded 11 tries and suffered their heaviest home defeat in a Test played outside World Rugby’s official window, without England and France-based players.
The world champions were ruthlessly nowhere on home soil, but still scored seven tries with Jasper Wiese, Cobas Reinach, Jesse Kriel, Jaco Williams, Herschel Jantzis, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Paul de Villiers crossing.
It was the Springboks’ 11th win in a row and their third to take them top of the Southern Division after wins over England and Scotland at the Nations Championship.
The writing was on the wall in exchange for Wales closing tackles in similar fashion to Argentina the previous week.
Wiese scored within five minutes and the Springboks soon created another attacking position as the Wales scrum retreated at great speed.
Kobas bowled Wise over in South Africa’s first try
Reinch raced down the right from another dominant scrum and Moyo converted his second to settle his early nerves.
The game was almost entirely played in Wales’ half, but handling errors in the sticky conditions let the visitors off the hook.
Wales defended well to avoid further penalties before the break but the Springboks extended their advantage from the last play of the first half.
The forwards moved in phases before Moyo sent a cross-kick into the corner and Jaco Williams beat the namesake Tomos to lay the ball down for Creal.
Scrum-half Cobas Reinach snipes South Africa’s second ball
South Africa claimed their bonus point within 40 seconds of the restart as Jaco Williams took advantage of a loose Wales kick to race over the debutant.
Mee almost made the line as Wales enjoyed their best period, but points again proved elusive and normal service resumed when Jaco Williams slowed the line and found Jantzid waiting inside.
Wales suffered another setback when substitute Ben Warren was given a yellow card and sent to the sin bin after a TMO review took his high shot on Marco van Staden.
South Africa inevitably capitalized on their numerical advantage as first Test tries from Arendse and de Villiers put Wales out of their misery.
Jaco Williams ran for South Africa’s fourth try on his Test debut
‘What it means to play for Wales’
Wales head coach, Steve Tandy, speaking post-match:
“It’s not the scoreline we want. I’m proud of the group and the effort they’ve shown. There’s a lot of young lads who’ve shown fight and what it means to play for Wales.
“We were not clinical or accurate enough at times when we could get on the board. When South Africa conceded five penalties in a row, we could have taken our time and pressed them.
“But it shows at this level how far we have to go; how disciplined and accurate you have to be against a team like South Africa.
“For us, the physicality, the smartness — there’s growth in every area, but I believe in this group and growth. These experiences are painful, but we have to learn from it.”
Wales conceded 116 points in two Tests against South Africa
‘Stark difference’ – Lake proud of Wales’ ‘growth’
Wales captain Dewey Lake, speaking after the match:
“South Africa are a dominant team, the number one team in the world. It’s about stepping up for us and we’ve done that in some parts.
“The growth for us is 80 minutes and keeping it consistent across all aspects of the game.
“This team has gone from strength to strength. You’ve seen what we’ve achieved in the last six months. We’re only going to improve.
“The boys wear their hearts on their sleeves every time, there’s no shortage of effort. Our discipline was a little off tonight, and we weren’t consistent enough with our physicality.”
