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Mighty Springboks end season of growth on a high by thrashing Wales in Cardiff

Mighty Springboks end season of growth on a high by thrashing Wales in Cardiff
Bok centre Damian de Allende is stopped by desperate Wales defence. The home team made more than 200 tackles at the Principality Stadium. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)
Craig Ray
By Craig Ray
23 Nov 2024
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The Boks ended their year with a 45-12 (halftime 26-5) win over Wales in Cardiff.

It says a lot about the success and quality of the Springboks that a 33-point margin of victory over Wales, including seven tries at the Principality Stadium, feels like an under-achievement.

The world champions were excellent at times in this encounter where they dominated possession and territory and forced Wales into more than 200 tackles.

 But as good as they were for large portions of the match, they were also sloppy in key moments. Several tries — perhaps as many as five — went unscored when all it required was one more pass, or one more phase. Wales’s defence deserves some credit too.

That is the nit-picky view after another big win over ailing Wales, and a wonderful season that stacked up more silverware in the cabinet back at HQ. 

But the Boks are held to a higher standard now — and they hold themselves to a higher bar — where winning and losing are only part of the overall assessment of their performance. 

The quality of play and the precision of small details are always under scrutiny as they search for ways to be better with a view to defend the World Cup in three years’ time.

Fullback Aphelele Fassi produced another strong game, which included a try. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)


Wales’s troubles 


The slightly flat feeling about this win, as emphatic as it was, is also a sign of Wales’s struggles. The Boks seldom had to lift their game above “good” to run riot. 

Wales have now lost their 12 games in a row, which must surely signal the end of coach Warren Gatland’s second stint in charge. Gatland’s contribution to Welsh rugby has been immense, so it’s a pity his legacy will be tarnished by this stint that has been so poor.

Read more: No room for complacency as winning Boks look to end seminal rugby season on a high against Wales

For counterpart Rassie Erasmus, it brings the curtain down on a superb year in which he grew depth and attacking style, while the team won 11 out of 13 matches for an 85% winning ratio.

The Boks will retain the No 1 ranking at the end of the year as they completed an undefeated northern hemisphere tour for the first time since 2013. It also marks the most successful Bok season, outside of World Cup years, since 1998. 

Bok centre Damian de Allende is stopped by desperate Wales defence. The home team made more than 200 tackles at the Principality Stadium. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)



Erasmus has not been afraid to tinker incessantly throughout the year as he looks for answers to potential problems and grows depth for the future.

One of his experiments for this game — choosing Jordan Hendrikse at flyhalf — paid off well. Jordan was a sparkling form behind a dominant pack, and contributed 15 points from five conversions and a try. 

The rejigged starting front row of Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar and Thomas du Toit was magnificent, while starting blindside flank Elrigh Louw gave a strong 41 minutes before he made way for Cameron Hanekom to make his debut and become the 51st player used this season.

Behind the pack Jordan pulled the strings well, as the experienced heads of wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, and centres Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende, typically belligerent on defence and canny on attack. 

The result was confirmed by halftime, and in truth it could have been much worse for Wales than the 26-5 deficit they faced. 

In addition to four first-half tries, the Boks were twice held up over the line and a Siya Kolisi try was struck off for an earlier knock-on. 

Read more: Kolbe on the double as Boks condemn England to fifth straight defeat

Wales could have been 40 points down by halftime, and as bizarre as it sounds, some brilliant defence kept the score marginally respectable at the break.

Lock Eben Etzebeth scored the Springboks' second try after good interplay with wing Kurt-Lee Arendse. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)



Flank Jac Morgan was monumental in defence, making 27 tackles himself, but without much ball and territory, there was only ever going to be one outcome against a team as good as the Boks. 

Despite their efforts, Wales simply didn’t have the power, skill and nous to live with the Boks.

Their scrum was dismantled, they were smashed at the breakdown and they lost the aerial battle. The only department that functioned on a par with the Boks was their lineout, which was the genesis of their late first-half try scored by wing Rio Dyer, and their last-minute try for flank James Botham.

From a Bok perspective, both those tries were irritating because they were against the run of play and added a little respectability to a score that might have ballooned to horrific margins.

Bok centre Damian de Allende is stopped by desperate Wales defence. The home team made more than 200 tackles at the Principality Stadium. (Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)


Fast start


Wales were always going to be up against it, but it took just five minutes for the world champions to flex their muscles in a first half where South Africa’s relentless power was on full display. 

Lock Franco Mostert opened the scoring with a rare try — only his fourth in Test rugby — worthy of the best back. Mostert ran a subline line onto a lovely Jaden Hendrikse pass.

The try though, started with Arendse winning an aerial contest, with Jordan Hendrikse and Cheslin Kolbe heavily involved as the Boks moved the ball wide to create the moment for Mostert. 

Minutes later, fellow lock Eben Etzebeth stormed over the line after fine work down the left, where Arendse unselfishly slowed down to draw the final tackle and free Etzebeth on a support line on the inside. 

Arendse turned finisher minutes later when he received the ball in acres of Cardiff turf and easily stepped inside the cover tackle of fullback Blair Murray.

Elrigh Louw then completed the Boks’ first half, scoring from a quickly taken tap penalty close to the Wales line after a third scrum penalty. It was an intelligent piece of play from an area of the game where the Boks had total ascendency. Wales gave up six scrum penalties in all.

After halftime the Boks started with swagger, cutting lines and making metres with wave after wave of carries, only to be let down by their own sloppiness with the final pass. 

It took 15 minutes before the dominance was rewarded with another try. This time it was fullback Aphelele Fassi who finished, after excellent work from Arendse occupied two defenders to create the space for Fassi to use his pace without a defender nearby.

Prop Gerhard Steenekamp powered over from close range just after the hour. Jordan Hendrikse completed the scoring with a smart try after excellent work from scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, who sniped into a half gap before producing a fine pass. 

It wasn’t a perfect day for the Boks but the clinical dissection can wait a few days. The Boks can head home, job done, season over and a massive foundation to continue to build from in 2025. DM  

Scorers


Wales – Tries: Rio Dyer, James Botham. Conversion: Ben Thomas.

South Africa – Tries: Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Elrigh Louw, Aphelele Fassi, Gerhard Steenekamp, Jordan Hendrikse. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (5).

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