SA vs Wales (June 2022 series)

[duncanb]

Poor game ,Wales will happy with win against a cobbled together team,that looked cobbled together.

 

[Rinkadink]

Cymru am byth... yeah that wasn't a classic but it was earned. Should be 2-0 up had it not been for the implosion in previous match. Last fixture should be spicy.

 

[Rinkadink]

If SA let wales win this I'm burning my jerseys

 

[Eleutherarch]

Yep, underwhelming performance by Kriel and Esterhuizen, running pretty inoffensive lines. None of the outside backs distinguished themselves at all. Orie was a bit anonymous. PSDT trying to be proactive but without the usual care and ended up infringing a lot. Pollard had a couple of decent breaks and I enjoyed the hand-offs, but that was not a good performance, lacking any real creativity (but that's not a surprise). Being better than Elton means being better than Elton - it does not mean that you are playing well.

Hendrikse was not bad. I thought the ruck speed was an improvement over last week even if the kicks were suspect.

Basic handling was poor. Running lines were poor. Defense was mediocre. Ability under the high ball was really poor. I have said it before and have said it again, Nienaber is a natural suppressor of cultivating attacking dimensions in the gameplan. Why is it that, with the greatest depth of forwards in international rugby at present, SA are not converting their bountiful opportunities into big points?

Once again, big congratulations to Wales. You deserve it. Convert the tie in to a series win. You'd be doing SA a favour.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

To be honest, i thought RSA would tear Wales a new one just to make a statement. If forced to bet i would have said RSA +15.
I really don't get what RSA tried to do. Can't blame this merely on execution.
First game you could claim RSA was caught off guard or something but even then you could (i did at least) argue RSA outplayed Wales. Today you did not.

Not one try against this Wales. Hopefully, this will be a relatively cheap and early wake-up call for you lot.
We'll know soon enough.

 

[Saintjay]

Scary but Wales should really be two up in the series. Not sure if that says more about the Boks or Wales tbh.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

Let me ask non-south africans and non-welsh posters a question: if the ref had pinged a penalty for that last scrum, what would you say?

- No way
- 50/50, could be
- Def a penalty. Can't believe he didn't call it.

?

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

It's pointless crying about the way we put in new faces but I'm still happy Nienaber did even if a close loss is the price, the information is invaluable. I almost don't want to congratulate Wales though. Is that small of me? Fair play they stuck to their guns at the point I felt a score for us was inevitable and two cheap conservative Etzebeth penalties later the pressure was off and the game was on. We can't even blame our rookies for that. Shows you how fine margins are.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Let me ask non-south africans and non-welsh posters a question: if the ref had pinged a penalty for that last scrum, what would you say?

- No way
- 50/50, could be
- Def a penalty. Can't believe he didn't call it.

?

I could see it. It was on the broadcast far side so we couldn't really see what exactly happened. I think a reset for a collapsed scrum would have been okay.
At the end of the day they weren't moving forward and a penalty there would have been a real buzzkill as a fan. Glad we got to see the ball play out. Now if the AR on that side thought Wales collapsed cause they felt pressure then the penalty should have been called.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

- Def a penalty. Can't believe he didn't call it.

For consistencies sake: this one
But the way it was reffed is how I want the game reffed - the ball was available at the back and the boks refused to use it because they wanted to win a penalty, the scrum eventually collapsed but the ball was still playable so the referee told them to get on with it

The scrum changing from a way to restart the game to something exclusively to try and win penalties is one of the most negative aspects of the professional era

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Let me ask non-south africans and non-welsh posters a question: if the ref had pinged a penalty for that last scrum, what would you say?

- No way
- 50/50, could be
- Def a penalty. Can't believe he didn't call it.

?

The scrum was weird throughout and we should adapt and TBH it shouldn't have come down to it. No problem here.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

The scrum changing from a way to restart the game to something exclusively to try and win penalties is one of the most negative aspects of the professional era

Yup

 

[Becca]

Well that's an afternoon I'll never get back !
However, well done Wales.

I agree with everyone about Marx. How he can be left to stew on the bench all the time is beyond me. He's a great player.

Let's hope the Third Test is a good one…

 

[Eleutherarch]

It's pointless crying about the way we put in new faces but I'm still happy Nienaber did even if a close loss is the price, the information is invaluable. I almost don't want to congratulate Wales though. Is that small of me? Fair play they stuck to their guns at the point I felt a score for us was inevitable and two cheap conservative Etzebeth penalties later the pressure was off and the game was on. We can't even blame our rookies for that. Shows you how fine margins are.

I wasn't crying about the way it was done and was excited to see this team play. The information is invaluable. However, why is it that 10-15 were so limp? Almost as if they'd had their attacking sensibilities coached out of them? Maybe they were cowed by the occasion but they didn't look like the players we thought they would be.

 

[Eleutherarch]

On the whole Gardner had a decent game (AWJ incident aside). Was good at communicating and warning promptly. He was consistent and vigilant with supporting weight, sealing off and (personal bugbear of mine) straight throws in the lineout.

I don't feel hard done by.

 

[ChicagoKid]

I wasn't crying about the way it was done and was excited to see this team play. The information is invaluable. However, why is it that 10-15 were so limp? Almost as if they'd had their attacking sensibilities coached out of them? Maybe they were cowed by the occasion but they didn't look like the players we thought they would be.

Because this isn't the URC. What worked for Gelant in the URC wasn't working today. As Jac said, test match is a major step up. There isn't wide open running lanes. This is exactly what we needed. Who can step up and perform under pressure in a big match. A lot of players showed they are not ready for it.

 

[Scotty]

Let me ask non-south africans and non-welsh posters a question: if the ref had pinged a penalty for that last scrum, what would you say?

- No way
- 50/50, could be
- Def a penalty. Can't believe he didn't call it.

?

Well id say yes a pen but when it was stationary he should have called 'use it'

Couldnt you ask the same think about AWJ yellow card? Only seen the replay once but looked like a terrible call.

Every game theres so many bad calls or contentious calls.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Also pollard just hasn't had playing time. Hopefully the move to Leicester will get him in form. But a choice between a bad 10 and a rusty 10 isn't one a coach wants to make.

 

[ChicagoKid]

Also pollard just hasn't had playing time. Hopefully the move to Leicester will get him in form. But a choice between a bad 10 and a rusty 10 isn't one a coach wants to make.

I thought he was solid today and we saw glimpses of the old Handre with his attacking ability. The inability for our 12 or 13 to do anything of note really let him down.

 

[Eleutherarch]

Because this isn't the URC. What worked for Gelant in the URC wasn't working today. As Jac said, test match is a major step up. There isn't wide open running lanes. This is exactly what we needed. Who can step up and perform under pressure in a big match. A lot of players showed they are not ready for it.

Meh - I still expected more seeing as most have had exposure to test rugby. Perhaps you're right and it's a question of developing fortitude for the back three.

Kriel and Esterhuizen though . . .