Injured and absent players resulted in the Welsh squad’s seventh successive loss on the international stage.
South Africa triumphed over Wales in the Qatar Airways Cup rugby showdown, marking a back-to-back victory and first test match win since emerging victorious at the 2023 rugby World Cup.
The South African Springbok’s 41 – 16 victory at London’s Twickenham Stadium led to Pieter-Steph du Toit, the team’s captain, saying that the immense presence of fans in the stands meant “it almost felt like a home game”.
For his part, coach Rassie Erasmus had both praise and constructive criticism for his players’ performance.
“We achieved our goal and the players who made their debuts showed that they are capable at playing at this level,” the Boks’ coach said in his post-game remarks. However, he added that “it wasn’t a perfect performance”.
Despite the deployment of a new attacking approach to win against the Welsh, Erasmus remarked that the Boks didn’t dominate the collisions and added that “a few errors” were made during play.
For instance, the Boks conceded their only try of the match to Welsh captain Dewi Lake.
During a post-game press conference, Warren Gatland, Wales’ head coach, praised Lake for his “outstanding [and] exceptional” performance throughout the tough match, as well as his unwavering leadership which carried the team.
Welsh losing streak
The loss at Twickenham marked the seventh successive gruelling international loss Gatland’s squad has faced.
“I understand how important results are and I’m quite happy for that pressure to come on me rather than the players,” Gatland remarked.
British media attributed the latest defeat to a “slow start” in comparison to a Boks scoring masterclass. It only took three minutes for the African team to edge into the lead with Jesse Kriel and Makazole Mapimpi combining for the centre to dive over and Jordan Hendrikse converting.
Many key players were also missing from the Welsh lineup. Injured absentees included Jac Morgan, Tomos Williams, Taulupe Faletau and Adam Beard.
Wales will now focus on ending their losing streak at their next test match in Australia where they will face the Wallabies on July 6.
