du Preez try sinks Wales at Twickenham

A try in the 75th minute from Fourie du Preez put the Springboks into the semi-final as they survived a remarkable performance from Wales at Twickenham. Dan Biggar’s penalty goal some 10 minutes earlier had put Wales into the lead, and some resolute defense kept South Africa off the boad but for a terrific Duane Vermeulen offload to put his captain over in the corner for a memorable score.

Wales had the South African defense in tatters early on as George North tore down the left sideline, stopped just a couple metres from the line. The overlap was on wide right but a shocking pass from Gethin Jenkins found the touchline instead of Tyler Morgan and a certain try was left begging. Instead it was Handré Pollard who took the first points, a well-struck penalty from the right side to get things underway.

Two more Pollard kicks to one from Dan Biggar gave the Springboks a six point lead, but a moment of brilliance from Biggar gave Wales the first try of the match. The Welsh no10 put up an inch-perfect garryowen to himself, winning the ball in front of Willie le Roux and feeding Gareth Davies just off his right shoulder to finish off the final few metres. Biggar’s conversion gave Wales the lead, but South Africa were back within moments.

A needless penalty given away by Luke Charteris on the restart gave Pollard an immediate chance to get one back, and the Springbok flyhalf made no mistake from 35 metres out. The score would remain the same until the last play of the half, when Biggar knocked over a timely drop goal to give his side a one point lead heading into the break.

Biggar landed one from the tee shortly into the second stanza before Pollard answered with a field goal of his own, a near mirror image of his opposite’s earlier effort. Pollard added a penalty in the 62nd minute to put South Africa back in the lead, but Biggar answered not two minutes later.

The deciding score came from the back of a scrum. Vermeulen shot left off the wheel, and when Alex Cuthbert pinched in from the wing, the former IRB Player of the Year popped one out behind his back to du Preez looping around with only daylight between him and the corner. Pollard couldn’t land the conversion, but neither could Wales break the green wall of defense that came to meet their every attack in the final minutes.

With that the Springboks become the first team to qualify for the semi-finals, where they will meet either New Zealand or France, once again to be played at Twickenham. Wales will watch the remainder of the tournament from the stands but can hold their heads high after a very respectable effort, especially considering the quality of players absent through injury.

SOUTH AFRICA 23
Tries – F. du Preez (75)
Pens – H. Pollard 5 (9, 13, 17, 21, 62)
Drop goals – H. Pollard (52)

WALES 19
Tries – G. Davies (18)
Cons – D. Biggar (19)
Pens – D. Biggar 3 (15, 47, 64)
Drop goals – D. Biggar (40)

SOUTH AFRICA
1 T. Mtawarira (T. Nyakane 57) 2 B. du Plessis (A. Strauss 12-24, 56) 3 F. Malherbe (J. du Plessis 61) 4 E. Etzebeth (P. du Toit 68) 5 L. de Jager 6 F. Louw (W. Alberts 68) 7 S. Burger 8 D. Vermeulen 9 F. du Preez (capt.) 10 H. Pollard (P. Lambie 76) 11 B. Habana 12 D. de Allende 13 J. Kriel (J. Serfontein 68) 14 J. Pietersen 15 W. le Roux

WALES
1 G. Jenkins (P. James 56) 2 S. Baldwin (K. Owens 57) 3 S. Lee (T. Francis 56) 4 L. Charteris (B. Davies 64) 5 A. Jones 6 D. Lydiate (J. Tipuric 68) 7 S. Warburton (capt.) 8 T. Faletau 9 G. Davies (L. Williams 71) 10 D. Biggar (R. Priestland 73) 11 G. North 12 J. Roberts 13 T. Morgan (J. Hook 68) 14 A. Cuthbert 15 G. Anscombe