Wales edge South Africa in front of modest DC audience

After much discussion over the viability of the match, more than 20,000 were in attendance at RFK Stadium on Saturday to watch Wales defeat South Africa by 22-20. Reports had suggested that a minimum break-even point was 27,000 due to substantial guarantees made to the Welsh and South African Unions. The final tally did not meet that point but also exceeded pessimistic estimates that the match would be poorly attended.

The game itself also drew criticism for its place outside of the official June test window. Wales had left out numerous first choice players and were forced to drop three more due to an English Premiership release agreement. South Africa meanwhile had opted to start seven uncapped players with another six on the bench. leaving the best part of their top side at home to prepare for their test series against England.

There was little to cheer for in the opening half. The humidity made for slippery conditions and the standard of ball handling suffered as a result. Even worse was the scrum, which was an abysmal display with neither team able to keep their feet or seemingly capable of timing their entry to the satisfaction of the referee.

A score finally came nearly halfway through the opening stanza with Elton Jantjies slotting a penalty, but a real spark in the game would be another dozen minutes close to the break.

Sloppy presentation at the breakdown handed an easy turnover to Ellis Jenkins, and quick hands put Hallam Amos over in the corner. Wales would strike a second time just moments later. Gareth Anscombe gathered an ineffective clearance kick and made good ground on the counter. Short passing kept the ball alive and then Tomos Williams slipped through a half-gap on the post for a try on debut.

The Springboks regrouped at halftime and struck first in the second half. Wales were caught trying to play out of their own end and Travis Ismaiel – celebrating his 26th birthday and first cap simultaneously – grabbed a careless Amos pass for an easy run-in from just outside the 22 meter line.

Anscombe landed a penalty goal to make it a one try game but a yellow card to Owen Watkin for deliberately knocking the ball out of in-goal gave South Africa a crucial numerical advantage. The extra space in the backs was exploited and Makazole Mapimpi dove over in the left corner with the Jantjies conversion drawing the scores level.

Replacement flyhalf Robert du Preez looked to be the hero when he landed a three-pointer from a scrum penalty, but he would soon be the villain. A clearance attempt from the restart was charged down by Williams and then the scrumhalf pulled off the impossible by getting his hand on a second du Preez kick, this time the deflection landed in-goal and Ryan Elias needed only flop on the ball for the winning try.

The Springboks turn their attention to their main target on England while Wales head south for two matches against Argentina. World Rugby’s continued interest in neutral matches on US soil will continue in November when Ireland play Italy in Chicago.

 

SCORING

WALES 22
Tries – H. Amos (30’), T. Williams (34’), R. Elias (75’)
Cons – G. Anscombe 2/3 (31’, 35’)
Pens – G. Anscombe 1/3 (48’)
Yellow cards – O. Watkin (56’)

SOUTH AFRICA 20
Tries – T. Ismaiel (43’), M. Mapimpi (59’)
Cons – E. Jantjies 2/2 (44’, 60’)
Pens – E. Jantjies 1/1 (18’), R. du Preez 1/1 (74’)

 

TEAMS

WALES
1 Nicky Smith (17 Wyn Jones 48’), 2 Elliot Dee (16 Ryan Elias 71’), 3 Dillon Lewis (18 Rhodri Jones 53’), 4 Cory Hill, 5 Bradley Davies, 6 Seb Davies, 7 Ellis Jenkins (capt.), 8 Ross Moriarty, 9 Tomos Williams (21 Aled Davies 79’), 10 Gareth Anscombe, 11 Steff Evans (23 Hadleigh Parkes 30’), 12 Owen Watkin, 13 George North, 14 Tom Prydie, 15 Hallam Amos

Not used: 19 Adam Beard, 20 Aaron Wainwright, 22 Rhys Patchell

SOUTH AFRICA
1 Ox Nche (17 Steven Kitshoff 48’), 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (16 Akker van der Merwe 53’), 3 Wilco Louw (18 Thomas du Toit 48’), 4 Jason Jenkins (19 Marvin Orie 62’), 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt.), 6 Kwagga Smith (20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe 11’-19’), 7 Oupa Mohojé, 8 Daniel du Preez (20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe 54’), 9 Ivan van Zyl (21 Embrose Papier 76’), 10 Elton Jantjies (22 Robert du Preez 72’), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 12 André Esterhuizen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 15 Curwin Bosch (23 Warrick Gelant 32’)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistants: Alex Ruiz (FFR) & Frank Murphy (IRFU)
TMO: David Grashoff (RFU)

 

Attendance: 21,357