As it happened: Boks v Wales

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Commentary by Sport24's Herman Mostert

Follow on @herman_mostert or send suggestions to: herman.mostert@sa.24.com

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH

Willie le Roux received the best-player award. (Gallo Images)

PICTURE

Cornal Hendricks scored a try in his first official Test... (Gallo Images)

Thanks for tuning in! No surprise to me that the Boks won. They again dominated their opponents physically and controlled the set pieces well.

There was a marked improvement in their scrum from last week, and the enterprise shown on attack by the Springbok backs was welcome to see.

I expect Willie le Roux to receive the man-of-the-match award.

Be sure to join us for next week's second Test against Wales in Nelspruit! That game will kick off at 15:00.

FULL-TIME: South Africa 38-16 Wales

80'- After 13 phases by the Boks, Wales turn it over. Great courage shown on defence at the end there from the visitors.

80'- The Boks take a quick tap as the hooter sounds...

79'- Mvovo goes over in the corner but he loses possession just before dotting down. Referee Poite goes back for a penalty advantage though...

78'- After a concerted period of attack, the Boks win another penalty. They set up another lineout close to the tryline. At least the Boks are finishing this game on the attack.

77'- Schalk Brits now also on at hooker for the Boks, who have an attacking lineout five metres out...

TWEET

Goosen injured ... Again ... How are those new French employees feeling now? - Front Row Grunt

75'- The game has lost its structure. Maybe too many substitutions on at the same time?

73'- Oh dear, Johan Goosen, barely on for two minutes, has been replaceed by Ruan Pienaar. It looks like possibly a foot injury for Goosen.

71'- That Welsh try also came off turnover ball. Duane Vermeulen lost possession inside the Welsh 22m area, before the visitors counter-attacked.

That's an area the Boks should look at, especially since the All Blacks are lethal off turnover ball...

70'- Steyn and Le Roux off for the Boks, with Goosen and Mvovo on.

70'- CONVERSION by Hook.

SA 38-16 Wales

69'- TRY! Big Wales wing Alex Cuthbert scores a brilliant individual try, breaking through from inside his own 22m area to finish next to the posts!

He showed tremendous pace for a man of 1.98m and 104 kg!

66'- An over-thrown South African lineout on the Welsh 22m line spoils a great attacking opportunity... Boks need to get a bit if their structure back.

65'- The experienced James Hook is now also on at flyhalf for Wales, with Dan Biggar off.

The Welsh substitutions have given them some much-needed attacking impetus it must be said.

PICTURE

Bismarck du Plessis, influential as always... (Gallo Images)

TWEET

Not sure Frans Steyn would have got back for that Serfontein try-save tackle? - Rob Houwing

60'- NO TRY!

Replays show a forward pass from Biggar, who was stopped by a last-gasp Serfontein tackle.

Serfontein's performance tonight will please coach Heyneke Meyer...

59'- TMO CALL

Wales are over the line but the referee wants to check for a forward pass. It was a great break from Davies who sprinted 30m before off-loading...

58'- Schalk Burger and Coenie Oosthuizen are on for South Africa, with Willem Alberts and Jannie du Plessis off.

Now the Boks can do that tighthead project...

58'- Matfield steals the Wales lineout to bring relief...

57'- OFFICIAL WARNING by referee Poite to the Boks who are conceding penalties with Wales hot on the attack...

55'- It's good to see that Wales aren't kicking for posts anymore. They set up an attacking lineout as coach Warren Gatland makes WHOLESALE CHANGES. In all, four of them...

TWEET

Good finish too from Hendricks. Slips under the tackle from George North. Steyn converts, he's been superb. SA 38-9 Wales - Jean Smyth

53'- Steyn CONVERTS from the corner.

SA 38-9 Wales

51' - TRY! Cornal Hendricks scores in the corner for his first Test try. Great hands by the Bok backs, in particular Willie le Roux and Bryan Habana.

It was set up after a concerted period of attack following a lineout just outside the Welsh 22m area.

49'- High-fives for Lood de Jager, who makes a MASSIVE driving tackle to win a turnover.

TWEET

Perfect chance to give Coenie a full 30 as well, and see where he is at in this project tighthead malarkey - Front Row Grunt

48'- A solid-enough first Bok scrum since the departure of Steenkamp.

46'- Jannie du Plessis penalised on halfway after taking out a Welshman without the ball. He is lucky he did not see yellow there... Jannie is becoming renowned for getting involved in off-the-ball incidents.

45'- Gurthrö Steenkamp, in his 50th Test, has been replaced by Tendai Mtawarira.

The Beast has a big job on his hands if he wants to match Steenkamp tonight.

44'- PENALTY slotted by Steyn.

SA 31-9 Wales

43'- An early kickable penalty to the Boks, right in front.

43'- De Jager is Springbok No 856, by the way.

41'- A good first touch for the 2.05m and 125kg Lood de Jager as he bumps off Welsh flyhalf Dan Biggar.

18:01 - Steyn starts the second half....

18:01 - Welcome back for the second half. News filtering through is that Bakkies Botha has a slight injury.

He is replaced by 21-year-old debutant Lood de Jager.

In-studio SuperSport commentator Nick Mallett says Willie le Roux is already tonight's man-of-the-match.

Gurthrö Steenkamp says it wasn't good enough by the Boks in the first half. He feels they can do much better. If the Boks improve as Steenkamp says, then they'll come close to a century tonight...

PICTURE

Willie le Roux is playing the game of his life... (Gallo Images)

HALF-TIME: SA 28-9 Wales

40'- PENALTY slotted by Biggar.

SA 28-9 Wales

39'- Wales win a penalty right in front of the posts. Biggar will line up for three points.

What's the use of that? They're not going to come back with drops and penalties...

38'- CONVERSION slotted by Steyn.

SA 28-6 Wales

37'- TRY! Willie le Roux is playing the game of his life. He puts a chip-kick in behind the Welsh defence before gathering and forcing his way over.

35'- Boks back on the attack inside the Wales 22m area.

But unfortunately a knock-on scuppers the attacking chance...

OTHER RESULT

Namibia have beaten Western Province 30-28 in a friendly game in Windhoek.

31'- Wales have made their first replacement. Prop Adam Jones off, with Samson Lee on.

A day Jones would rather want to forget!

31'- A Wales turnover inside their own 22m area sees them run all the way up-field and into the Springbok 22m area, but some good scrambling defence by Cornal Hendricks saves the day for the Boks.

30' - A better scrum by Wales but Biggar's clearance kick is not very far...

28'- NO TRY

Replays show Serfontein knocked it on as he stretched for the ball. It will be a Wales scrum five metres from their own line...

28'- TMO CALL

More work for the TMO. Jan Serfontein chased a Morne Steyn chip-kick in behind the Welsh. He duelled with Mike Phillips but it doesn't look like he dotted it down.

27'- Wales look shell-shocked. Why is that a surprise to so many...?

PICTURE

Victor Matfield on the charge... (Gallo Images)

TWEET

I know I'm stating the obvious but Willie le Roux is a genius! !!#bokke - Roelof van der Merwe

22'- 15 AGAINST 15

Roberts is now back from the sin-bin.

21'- Steyn CONVERTS from the corner. That's why it's tough to play without him folks!

SA 21-6 Wales

20'- TRY! Bryan Habana scores in the corner. His second try of the night.

It came after Willie le Roux won the ball from the ensuing kick-off, before some slick handling by the Bok backs put the speedster away...

19'- DROP GOAL!

A second drop by Biggar.

SA 14-6 Wales

That came out of nowhere, with the Welsh scrum under immense pressure...

18'- As I expected beforehand, Wales are physically out-muscled by the Boks.

17'- CONVERSION by Steyn.

SA 14-3 Wales

15'- TRY!

Duane Vermeulen barges over for the Boks. His second Test try.

14' - A scrum penalty to the Boks close to the Wales line.

They opt for an attacking lineout. Some good work from Steenkamp there...

TWEET


#SAvWALYellow card for Jamie Roberts. Poite averages 1 yellow per test match - Jean Smyth

YELLOW CARD

Roberts is sent off for 10 minutes.

He made clear contact with an airborne Le Roux who fell dangerously. Perhaps a fair call, although it wasn't malicious from Roberts.

12'- TMO CALL

The TMO is again called into action. Wales centre Jamie Roberts tackled Willie le Roux while he was in the air.

12'- Fourie du Preez caught throwing the ball in skew at the scrum. Despite that, the Bok scrum is looking good.

11'- Both teams showing intent to run the ball here tonight! Great to see.

10'- That was Habana's 54th Test try, by the way. He extends his Springbok record...

TWEET

What a try by Habana...... and scoring on that strip of cement too. Boks 7-3 Wales after 8 minutes - Cindy Poluta

7'- CONVERSION from the corner by Morne Steyn.

SA 7-0 Wales

7'- TRY AWARDED!

Brilliant awareness from Le Roux and great finish by Habana.

6'- TRY OR NO TRY!

Bryan Habana brilliantly follows up a Willie le Roux chip-kick and looks to have scored in the corner.

The TMO is called into action.

5'- Boks hot on the attack close to the Wales tryline, but a turnover means the visitors can breathe.

Some good work on the ground by No 8 Taulupe Faletau.

4'- Already TWO solid scrums in this game by the Boks.

Steenkamp making the difference?

2'- DROP GOAL!

Flyhalf Dan Biggar puts Wales ahead with a drop goal. It came after the Boks lost possession inside their own 22m area.

SA 0-3 Wales

1'- South Africa stretched out wide by Wales, but wing Alex Cuthbert knocks it on close to the Bok 22m area.

17:01 - Wales get the game started via flyhalf Dan Biggar.

17:00 - Controversial Frenchman Romain Poite is the referee.

16:59 - DID YOU KNOW?

Cornal Hendricks is the only new Springbok in starting team. He will be Springbok No 855. If he goes on, Lood de Jager will be No 856.

16:56 - All ready for the national anthems now.

Selim Kagee sings the Welsh anthem, with Lloyd Cele having the honour for SA.

16:55 - Gurthrö Steenkamp leads the Boks out in his 50th Test.

It's also his 6th game against Wales.

Wales have only beaten the Boks once in 27 games. 

I expect the status quo to remain today...

CLICK HERE to read my prediction piece on today's game.

PICTURE

The Fichardt twins - split loyalties.

Nick Mallett feels the decision to start prop Gurthrö Steenkamp ahead of The Beast was made on sentiment. It will be Steenkamp's 50th Test today - which prompted Bok coach Heyneke Meyer to give Steenkamp a start.

Mallett says it's good gesture but he expects The Beast to be back in the starting team next week.

I'm not in favour of it though. The Stormers did a similar thing recently when they handed out-of-form Peter Grant his 100th Super Rugby cap, at the expense of Kurt Coleman, who did not deserve to get dropped at the time.

16:31 - PICTURE

Kings Park (Gallo Images)

16:02 - PICTURE

Stadium filling up... - (Johan Booysen)

PICTURE

Today's starting XVs! - Gallo Images

TWEET

The men to do battle against Wales - Arrive Alive

TWEET

Durban today - looks peachy! - SA Rugby

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OFFICIALS

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Steve Walsh (Australia), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

RECENT RESULTS

2013: South Africa won 24-15, Cardiff

2011: South Africa won 17-16, Wellington (World Cup pool match)

2010: South Africa won 29-25, Cardiff

2010: South Africa won 34-31, Cardiff

2008: South Africa won 20-15, Cardiff

2008: South Africa won 37-21, Pretoria

2008: South Africa won 43-17, Bloemfontein

2007: South Africa won 34-12, Cardiff

2005: South Africa won 33-16, Cardiff

2004: South Africa won 38-36, Cardiff

TEAMS:

Springboks

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha ,3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp

Substitutes: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Lodewyk de Jager, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Johan Goosen, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
 
Wales:

15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Aaron Shingler, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins  

Substitutes: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Paul James, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Ian Evans, 20 Josh Turnbull, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 James Hook, 23 Matthew Morgan

Welcome to Sport24's LIVE scoring and interactive commentary on today's match between the Springboks and Wales from Kings Park in Durban!