Wales throw it away at the last

NO wonder coach Warren Gatland was angry, for he knew only too well that Wales had blown away one of the best chances they will ever have of ending their dismal run against a major southern hemisphere country.

In fact, it was worse than that, Gatland was absolutely furious for he so wanted Wales to take the next step after winning the Grand Slam last season, and that was the scalp of the Springboks.

But his team failed to take their chances, they presented the world champions with one of their two tries and when the chance was there to take the game in the last five minutes they couldn’t accept it.

Senior player Martyn Williams admitted they had never received such a roasting after the game, which says it all after the euphoria of just eight months ago.

Wales had pulled back from 20-3 down to within five points of the South Africans with five minutes left courtesy of four penalties by replacement James Hook.

They secured a decent position inside the Springbok 22, but twice they failed to secure line-out possession on their own throw, giant Victor Matfield winning their ball the first time and ever-impressive flanker Juan Smith snatching the ball the second time.

Not only that, but Wales couldn’t win their own ball at a scrum either, losing possession at the back, and finally Lee Byrne made his only mistake when he knocked the ball on trying to field a high kick.

It was a succession of errors when they had built up some momentum, had clawed their way right back into the game and all they had to do was stay calm and supply the knock-out punch.

But they couldn’t do it, and for that they had to pay not only on the scoreboard but with a verbal lashing from an unhappy Gatland.

At least they had shown the courage and tenacity to come back off the ropes and take the game to the Springboks, with new boys Andy Powell and Leigh Halfpenny leading the way.

Powell ran at the Springboks, often scattering defenders to give Wales the go forward they needed and he won the man-of-the-match award on his international debut, though Gatland implied he still has to improve his technique.

And Halfpenny also showed lots of promise on his debut, making a couple of incisive runs, once almost getting away from the Springbok cover and he coolly slotted a long-range penalty when Stephen Jones was groggy for Wales’ only first-half points.

The Welsh pack won more possession and they frequently went forward in the second half, enjoying one spell of heavy pressure, but they just couldn’t make it count.

The Springboks knew how to win, and that was the biggest difference between the sides. For though they had hooker and captain John Smit playing at tight head and scrum-half Ruan Pienaar at outside-half as well as replacement centre Jaque Fourie yellow-carded, they still had sufficient expertise to get the better of Wales for the fourth time in a year.

Pienaar, in fact, looked a terrific footballer at 10, running and kicking with an ease that marked him out as a class player.

The first try took just five minutes to arrive as Smit and Smith both took the ball on the burst coming from deep – something Wales rarely managed to achieve – and centre Adi Jacobs finished off with the try which was converted by Pienaar, who added a penalty to make it 10-0 in as many minutes.

Halfpenny and Pienaar swopped penalties, and then came the try that ultimately proved decisive and put the match beyond Wales.

Hook had barely been on the field after replacing Stephen Jones ten minutes into the second half when he took too long to pass the ball, and when he did it was read by Springbok centre Jean de Villiers, who calmly intercepted and sped away for the try which Pienaar again converted.

They might have been expected to win away with the game then, but credit to Wales, they dug in and gradually got back into it as the world champions continued to offend at the ruck and got penalised for it by Alain Rolland.

Up stepped Hook to make amends for his earlier howler as he landed five penalties in a row to narrow the gap to just five points.

The game appeared to be there for the taking, but instead of taking it Wales appeared to take fright like a rabbit in the headlights, and instead of clinching victory in the last five minutes they bungled it.

They can’t be too happy either, but they got the result they wanted at least to lay down some kind of marker ahead of next year’s British Lions tour to South Africa, but Gatland won’t put up with this ahead of more big games against New Zealand and Australia this month.

The scrum was pretty solid, Ian Evans won line-out ball until he was replaced in the second half and Powell was outstanding, while behind Dwayne Peel looked a bit more like his old self when he went on, Byrne had an excellent game, one mistake apart, and Halfpenny also shone.

It was close, but Wales just don’t close out these games against the really big boys. Reversing that trend is the size of the task facing Gatland and his team now.

Wales: Byrne, L Halfpenny, T Shanklin, J Roberts, S Williams, S Jones (J Hook 50), G Cooper (D Peel 50), G Jenkins, M Rees, A Jones, A W Jones, I Evans (I Gough 63), R Jones (captain), A Powell, M Williams.

Scorers – Penalties: J Hook (4), L Halfpenny.

South Africa: C Jantjes, J P Pietersen, A Jacobs (F Steyn 59), J de Villiers, B Habana (J Fourie 60), R Pienaar, F du Preez (R Januarie 60), T Mtawarira, B du Plessis, J Smit, captain (B Mujati 66-74), B Botha (A Bekker 40), S Burger, P Spies (R Kankowski 49), J Smith.

Scorers – Tries: A Jacobs, J de Villiers; conversions: R Pienaar (2); penalties: Pienaar (2).