Big Ewis
Hall of Fame
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2011
- Messages
- 10,573
- Country Flag
- Club or Nation
just finished watching it whole. Valiant effort from Wales, it was beautiful to watch, for most of it. Some big mistakes, and I don't even mean in the last 10 minutes, really hindered all the good stuff they were doing. But then again, South Africa committed lots of those too...
Leading 17-0 to start the game off over in South Africa, not exactly an easy task. Wales looked brilliant to open this one. Their pack more than showed up, and I really like that young Tighthead Lee for them. Although it wasn't until their second unit front row came on that they absolutely destroyed the Springbok scrum. Powerful stuff from Wales. For such a small nation to come into South Africa and force their will like that, beautiful stuff, impossible not to praise generously. And talk about a fkn turnaround.
All of a sudden, the giant Welsh backs are an asset as their power came through to hit South Africa like lightning, esp. in those opening moments: if Cuthbert isn't 106kg, he doesn't score that try at 21'. And I thought he finally used his body adequately for once. For once he wasn't just running straight lines hard, he was in rhythm and showed good variety in direction.
For South Africa:
this is a wakeup call, better late than too late. This Welsh side, it isn't the first time they've come close and scared the shiit out of them (17-16 score ring the bell ?). South Africa were reminded that, yes they've got enormous forwards, but even those can be matched or even overwhelmed. They were reminded attacking Rugby will be required in the rougher games against top opposition, and those forwards alone may not be enough. They attacked towards the end to take the lead, scoring two non-forward-oriented tries. And Le Roux is good, certainly, but he's no Folau/Ben Smith. Not even close in fact. But they showed good attacking form, and big credit to them for making it all the way back.
For Wales, this is of course the classic huge fight where they lose everything in the last 5min or so. But their fans can't forget, as little psychological compensation as this may be worth, the game was lost on a few silly mistakes, one of which was individual. Moral victories aren't worth anything they say, fine, in that case, Wales at least know they can compete in the most hostile environments, playing against the toughest sides and beat them at their own game.
Best game of these mid-year test series imo. Sorry Wales didn't win, but eh, reality is cruel like that..
Leading 17-0 to start the game off over in South Africa, not exactly an easy task. Wales looked brilliant to open this one. Their pack more than showed up, and I really like that young Tighthead Lee for them. Although it wasn't until their second unit front row came on that they absolutely destroyed the Springbok scrum. Powerful stuff from Wales. For such a small nation to come into South Africa and force their will like that, beautiful stuff, impossible not to praise generously. And talk about a fkn turnaround.
All of a sudden, the giant Welsh backs are an asset as their power came through to hit South Africa like lightning, esp. in those opening moments: if Cuthbert isn't 106kg, he doesn't score that try at 21'. And I thought he finally used his body adequately for once. For once he wasn't just running straight lines hard, he was in rhythm and showed good variety in direction.
For South Africa:
this is a wakeup call, better late than too late. This Welsh side, it isn't the first time they've come close and scared the shiit out of them (17-16 score ring the bell ?). South Africa were reminded that, yes they've got enormous forwards, but even those can be matched or even overwhelmed. They were reminded attacking Rugby will be required in the rougher games against top opposition, and those forwards alone may not be enough. They attacked towards the end to take the lead, scoring two non-forward-oriented tries. And Le Roux is good, certainly, but he's no Folau/Ben Smith. Not even close in fact. But they showed good attacking form, and big credit to them for making it all the way back.
For Wales, this is of course the classic huge fight where they lose everything in the last 5min or so. But their fans can't forget, as little psychological compensation as this may be worth, the game was lost on a few silly mistakes, one of which was individual. Moral victories aren't worth anything they say, fine, in that case, Wales at least know they can compete in the most hostile environments, playing against the toughest sides and beat them at their own game.
Best game of these mid-year test series imo. Sorry Wales didn't win, but eh, reality is cruel like that..
