Sprinboks too strong for Wales

South Africa 19 Wales 8

South Africa beat Wales at a soggy Newlands this afternoon to clinch the two-Test series.

South Africa scored two tries and three penalties to a single try and a penalty from Wales in a match that never lived up to expectations.

The first half was a scrappy affair and characterised by numerous handling errors.

The Welsh forwards, more adept to playing in the poor conditions, won the lion’s share of possession, but their backs were cut down by an excellent Springbok midfield defence and they hardly crossed the advantage line.

The visitors lost their scrum-half Dwayne Pool 11 minutes into the game but replacement Ryan Powell continued to get his pack going forward.

And it was Wales who got the first points on the board midway through the first half when Springbok flanker AJ Venter went offside on his own 22. Fly-half Stephen Jones kicked the penalty to put the visitors in the lead.

From the restart South Africa were reduced to 14 men when tighthead Willie Meyer was yellow carded by English referee Tony Spreadbury for using the boot on an opponent.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, it was the Springboks who scored next when Wales went offside on their own 10-metre line and Andre Pretorius’ long-range effort was bang on target to level the scores.

South Africa thought they had scored four minutes before the break when the forward pack crashed over the line, but the referee ruled that the ball had been held up.

It did not help the Springboks’ cause a great deal when they lost three successive line-outs on their own throw-in.

But on the stroke of half-time they took the lead when full-back Brent Russell touched down after a neat backline move left him clear of the Welsh defence. Pretorius failed with the conversion but South Africa went into the break leading 8-3.

The Welsh could not have asked for a better start to the second half when their captain and flank Colin Charvis scored in the corner six minutes after the restart.

Wales forced a line-out after putting South Africa under pressure, won the ball and Charvis peeled from the side of the maul for his side’s first try to bring the scores level.

The try was good reward for the Welsh, by far the more constructive of the two teams, and only good defence from the Springboks stopped them from adding to Charvis’ try.

Wales came very close with a quarter to go when the Springboks lost possession on the attack, right wing Rhys Williams received the ball on his own 22 and almost managed to outsprint the cover defence.

It took a match-saving effort from replacement scrum-half Craig Davidson to stop the Cardiff flyer from scoring.

Two minutes later South Africa restored their lead when Pretorius was successful with a penalty after Wales had gone offside.

The Springbok fly-half doubled the lead to 14-8 a few minutes later from the same spot when Charvis was caught with his hands in the maul.

Davidson then put the result beyond doubt when he charged down a kick from Charvis on the goal-line. The decision went to the television referee but it was clear that the ball had been touched down by the Sharks scrum-half.

Pretorius failed with the conversion and with four minutes remaining South Africa were in charge at 19-8.

A belated effort by Wales saw the visitors coming close to their second try of the afternoon but dogged defence by the Springboks denied the visitors more points.