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Stephen Nell
Cardiff – “I could not have asked for better. I am very blessed.”
Those were the words of Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts after he scored a try in his debut Test within minutes of coming on as a substitute against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
Alberts’ try in the 51st minute, shortly after replacing Deon Stegmann, was a critical moment that swung the momentum in South Africa’s favour.
The Boks were 12-20 down at that stage.
“I called for the ball on that side because I noticed that we had more numbers than them. I saw it was a backline player defending me and I will take that chance any day!”
Alberts believe the swing in momentum already started late in the first half. Morné Steyn succeeded with an important penalty on the stroke of half-time.
“We picked up momentum at the end of the first half and in the second half needed fresh legs to keep it up. Fortunately it worked out for us,” he said.
“Wales attacked strongly in the last 10-15 minutes and we just had to defend.”
He believes the Boks’ decision to keep the ball in hand in the second half had paid dividends.
“It was said (at half-time) that we should keep the ball more because we caused Wales a lot of problems when we had the ball. We just wanted to build on the momentum that we got in the 10 minutes before half-time. We could not only rely on penalties. We had to go and score some tries.”
While the Test will not be remembered as a terrific Bok performance, the team will take the positives from its ability to come from behind.
“Any Test where you come back after trailing like that is a big one and is something you can build on for the rest of the tour. It’s a big win,” said Alberts.
Cardiff – “I could not have asked for better. I am very blessed.”
Those were the words of Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts after he scored a try in his debut Test within minutes of coming on as a substitute against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
Alberts’ try in the 51st minute, shortly after replacing Deon Stegmann, was a critical moment that swung the momentum in South Africa’s favour.
The Boks were 12-20 down at that stage.
“I called for the ball on that side because I noticed that we had more numbers than them. I saw it was a backline player defending me and I will take that chance any day!”
Alberts believe the swing in momentum already started late in the first half. Morné Steyn succeeded with an important penalty on the stroke of half-time.
“We picked up momentum at the end of the first half and in the second half needed fresh legs to keep it up. Fortunately it worked out for us,” he said.
“Wales attacked strongly in the last 10-15 minutes and we just had to defend.”
He believes the Boks’ decision to keep the ball in hand in the second half had paid dividends.
“It was said (at half-time) that we should keep the ball more because we caused Wales a lot of problems when we had the ball. We just wanted to build on the momentum that we got in the 10 minutes before half-time. We could not only rely on penalties. We had to go and score some tries.”
While the Test will not be remembered as a terrific Bok performance, the team will take the positives from its ability to come from behind.
“Any Test where you come back after trailing like that is a big one and is something you can build on for the rest of the tour. It’s a big win,” said Alberts.
