Wales must be ready for blowtorch speed of South Africa, says Edwards
Wales back themselves physically against anyone and if they justify that confidence against South Africa on Sunday they will very probably reach the final for the first time. The Springboks have beaten them in the past two World Cup tournaments in tight, hard-fought contests, but a motivating end of an era beckons with Warren Gatland nearing his final week in charge of the Six Nations champions.
Gatland’s side were knocked out of the 2015 World Cup by South Africa, succumbing to a late Fourie de Preez try after leading for much of the game, but they have won the four fixtures against the Springboks since and Gatland will have his charges primed as he focuses on the one trophy in club and Test rugby that has eluded him.
“South Africa have huge forwards who like to get over the advantage line, or ad line as we call it,” said the Wales defence coach, Shaun Edwards, who like Gatland is moving on at the end of the tournament after nearly 12 years. “It is going to be a battle royale. If you miss tackles, and no one wants to, it is not one of the key indicators to winning a game.
“The biggest one is the gainline: it is there where you win or lose the game in defence and we know we are going to have to muscle up. It will be a hugely physical game. They are fantastic defensively, statistically the best team in the world at the moment. I have a great deal of respect for their coach, Rassie Erasmus, and any team with him in charge will be well organised and be strong in the areas of kicking and defence where they have got blowtorch speed on the edges.”
Wales have been susceptible out wide against Fiji and France in recent matches and Edwards acknowledged they would need to closely watch the
South Africa wing Cheslin Kolbe, a three-quarter likened by Edwards to Jason Robinson having played with the England 2003 World Cup winner at Wigan. “If you want to watch a game of rugby, you want to see Cheslin Kolbe,” Edwards said.
“He is one of the most dynamic players I have seen and we will have to keep an eye on him. I was lucky enough to play alongside Jason for several years and Kolbe is similar to him: incredibly explosive, short and he defied the perception that you need to be big to play rugby. South Africa have such speed outside that if there were a 4x100m relay of all the teams in the World Cup, they would probably win it.
“Kolbe is showing that smaller guys can be brilliant on the Test stage. Look at the England and New Zealand backlines: some of their players are not massive, but they are skilful. It is still a game for all shapes and sizes and let’s hope that continues.”
The first eight years of Gatland’s stint as head coach tended to be a hard luck story against the three major southern hemisphere nations.
They are still looking for their first victory over New Zealand in 66 years, but since the last World Cup they are unbeaten against South Africa and have defeated Australia twice, including last month in a victory at the Tokyo Stadium that ensured they topped their pool.
“We have got a decent record against South Africa now, but many of the games have been close,” said Edwards. Erasmus made the point after Sunday’s quarter-final victory over Japan that the two matches they had played against Wales since he took over at the beginning of last year had been with weakened teams, although 19 players who are here were involved in the 20-11 defeat in Cardiff last November.
“The games against them tend to come down to one score and that is what is exciting this weekend: you are going into a game and you do not know who is going to win.
“A World Cup semi-final is where you want to be and while our last three matches have not gone smoothly, they were character building. We have not lost a competitive game since February 2018. Are we a better team than 2011 when we reached the semi-final? We will find out on Sunday.”