South Africa tour

[Sandydragon]

17-8 to South Africa

[Sandydragon]

When we have the ball we look like we can hurt them, but we are giving away far too many penalties when defending and it’s killing us.

Half time

[Sandydragon]

10 point lead now. We earned a couple of good penalties but Bok just scored a try.

Basham on for Refell

[Sandydragon]

Brave effort but the Bok had a lot of possession in our territory and just battered for too long. Too many penalties

[Graigwen]

Brave effort but the Bok had a lot of possession in our territory and just battered for too long. Too many penalties

Too many stupid penalties.

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[normanski]

Brave effort but the Bok had a lot of possession in our territory and just battered for too long. Too many penalties

Too many stupid penalties.

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Very difficult to stand up to that kind of battering, especially after the bomb squad came on. Fair play, Wales kept going despite looking out on their feet. Coulda/shoulda been closer?

[Sandydragon]

Pretty much every lineout. The one time we challenged in the air they didn’t maul and we defended well. Very lucky not to get a yellow today

[Graigwen]

Pretty much every lineout. The one time we challenged in the air they didn’t maul and we defended well. Very lucky not to get a yellow today

Agreed.

It could have been a lot worse.

I think we come home in a better state than when we left.

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[Sandydragon]

We know our best side is competitive with anyone. We even saw glimpses of attacking intent during that last game. If we keep a consistent side now then we can hopefully build on this.

[Ross. S]

3 weeks ago if you had said our worst game would have been a 30-14 loss I think every one of us would have taken it, especially after that Italy game. We lost one we should have won and won one we should have lost which feels a bit odd, we were in the third test right to the end even if we were clinging on.

We have a lot of work to do regarding out discepline though some of the cards were harsh IMO (see the AWJ yellow in the 2nd test).

Overall I'm pretty please, we've shown plenty of improvement since the 6 nations, we've gotten the monkey off our back regarding away wins in the SH and we've picked up some valuable experience ready for next years RWC. Its difficult to call it a successful tour when you lose 2:1 but its deffinatly a positive tour IMO.

The RWC is going to be crazy next year. NZ, SA, Eng, Fra & Ireland are all capable and one of them wont even make the semis! Throw in Wales, Scotland Argentina and the ausies and the game is looking healthy

[francoisfou]

Wales are back! Good news!

[Ross. S]

Wales are back! Good news!

Easy tiger

[francoisfou]

Wales are back! Good news!

Easy tiger

Didn’t see the game, but by all accounts it seems that the defeat at home to Italy is behind them.

[Ross. S]

Wales are back! Good news!

Easy tiger

Didn’t see the game, but by all accounts it seems that the defeat at home to Italy is behind them.

It better not be. They need to remember that humiliation and use it to never go there again. Same as England did on their 98 (???) "Tour of hell" when they got humped in Australia, that was their first stepping stone towards the 2003 RWC

[francoisfou]

Easy tiger

Didn’t see the game, but by all accounts it seems that the defeat at home to Italy is behind them.

It better not be. They need to remember that humiliation and use it to never go there again. Same as England did on their 98 (???) "Tour of hell" when they got humped in Australia, that was their first stepping stone towards the 2003 RWC

Do you really think they won’t have forgotten that defeat? Of course not, but they’ve undoubtedly moved on - and in the right direction. The signs are more than encouraging.

[UKHamlet]

We should be aiming at Ireland's level of achievement. Step one has to be building up the muscularity and toughness of our tight forwards, especially the props. Our guys look small next to the other top teams. Our loose forwards are pretty good and our backs are okay, although I'd like to see more pace at 15. We have a good group of wing backs, George is turning into a tidy centre and Tomkins gives us something different. We have a variety of combinations and styles at half back, although I wish we had a big athletic 10 and a Mike Phillips style 9. All in all, we can look forward with a certain amount of optimism.

[Sandydragon]

We either need some bulkier forwards so we can match that physicality or we need an alternative point of difference. We used to be amazingly fit and could hang in games and the surge ahead in the last quarter. I don’t think we will ever match the Bok for sheer size, but how can we keep our defence and have the ability to exploit the opposition bull?

All of which accepts that the Bok are a good team and hard to beat with a very simple but effective brand of rugby.

[Son of Mathonwy]

I think that scoreline flatters the Boks a bit. They deserved the win but I felt we were right in it until near the end. Would like to have seen Tompkins's knock to the head from another angle - should have gone to TMO. We did well (or were lucky) not to get a yellow for all those penalties. And let's not forget we had no Faletau for this match, and a lock at 6 for most of it.

Great series for us, getting that win, and almost another. Pivac is safe, we will have continuity till the world cup, we have some hope (even if we are quite a bit behind Ireland). Great to see Reffell start his career so well, Wainwright too, North really getting back into it. Shame we didn't see any Patchell and not much of Anscombe either (although what we did see was good). Shame about Lake's lineouts in the last two games. Till then he had looked really solid for Wales.

[Son of Mathonwy]

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=289234

North: 10 tackles, none missed, and I particularly enjoyed it when he dragged his victims into touch.

[Wallpaperman]

I think that scoreline flatters the Boks a bit. They deserved the win but I felt we were right in it until near the end. Would like to have seen Tompkins's knock to the head from another angle - should have gone to TMO. We did well (or were lucky) not to get a yellow for all those penalties. And let's not forget we had no Faletau for this match, and a lock at 6 for most of it.

Great series for us, getting that win, and almost another. Pivac is safe, we will have continuity till the world cup, we have some hope (even if we are quite a bit behind Ireland). Great to see Reffell start his career so well, Wainwright too, North really getting back into it. Shame we didn't see any Patchell and not much of Anscombe either (although what we did see was good). Shame about Lake's lineouts in the last two games. Till then he had looked really solid for Wales.

I thought we didn’t get a lot of luck with the scrum penalties in the first half - Thomas conceded one for not straight when all he had to bind on to was Malherbe’s side, as he was driving straight across into Elias. I wouldn’t have pinged Dillon Lewis for either of his penalties, for the first Nyakane was driving straight into him (which the ref picked up next time) and for the second he may have over extended, or he may have just slipped on the crap surface, Schalk Brits said as much in commentary. I was also surprised at there being no sanction for Mapimipi’s tackle on Tompkins or the early tackle on Liam Williams.

I would definitely have taken 1 win from 3 beforehand but the defeat yesterday feels a bit flat. This might just be because of the series wins by England and Ireland - congrats to both by the way. The third try, from the penalty after Tompkins passed to Adams by his own corner flag was completely self inflicted, and the failure to capitalise on the late chances (especially the line out overthrow) were pretty major errors. I was a bit disappointed that Patchell didn’t come on near the end as Wales looked more attacking with Tomos Williams and Basham on the field, but in all fairness they still created some chances even with Biggar. Overall the better side won but it still feels like a missed opportunity.

I agree re the lack of physicality in the front 5, which has cost Wales on this tour. Some of them can go toe to toe with the big packs, I think that Gareth Thomas, Elias, Lake and Rowlands are all ok but there needs to be more. Willgriff John had a pretty wretched season, but he could turn out to be a valuable second option as a scrummager after Francis, and he can carry the ball. It also wouldn’t surprise me to see Jake Ball return to Welsh rugby before the World Cup.

The conundrum behind the scrum is 10 & 12. I think we need a 12 with a bit of X factor to get the backline moving if Biggar starts, whether that is Tompkins or Halaholo. In all fairness Tompkins has had his moments on this tour. I think if we don’t go with Biggar we need some defensive solidity at 12, Johnny Williams alongside Anscombe would be my preferred option.