Boks let off the Hook as injuries hit
WALES will need the versatility of James Hook to help r evive an autumn campaign badly dented by another bruising visit of South Africa.
The attacking playmaker will expect to have a big part in Wales’ three remaining games after coming on after only 12 minutes of Saturday’s fierce encounter in the Millennium Stadium.
The Perpignan- based player stepped in at full back following a bad injury to centre Jonathan Davies, who had twice cut through the Springbok defence in his brief display but was led off after trying to halt Jean de Villiers’ surge to the line.
Wales fear the Lions centre could need surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle which would mean him missing the Six Nations title defence as well as games this month against Argentina, Tonga and Australia. Head coach Warren Gatland will learn more about Davies today plus updates on the calf injury to prop Adam Jones, who hobbled off after only 30 minutes, wing Liam Williams and substitute prop Scott Andrews.
The Scarlets wing was hurt in that opening attack by South Africa when trying to stop hooker Bismarck du Plessis, who had backed up Bryan Habana. The break finished with de Villiers fending off Davies and Mike Phillips.
Gatland admitted losing Davies would be a huge blow adding to the problems of his injury- hit squad, already without Lions Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert plus the explosive youngster Eli Walker. ‘If he [Davies] needs an operation then he is looking at up to four-to-five months out,’ reported Gatland.
Wales covered for the injuries by adding four players to their training squad yesterday — Scarlets’ props Samson Lee and Rhodri Jones and Dragons speedsters Hallam Amos and Tom Prydie. Gatland is now left picking up the pieces after a brutal encounter which hi ghli ghted Wales’ huge improvement since 2007 but how far they still have to go to match the super powers of the southern hemisphere.
South Africa withstood a magnificent forward effort in between, demonstrating a far sharper scoring edge to win by three tries to nil, with Leigh Halfpenny kicking all Wales’ points through five penalty goals. Gatland must now lift his squad after they had banked on gaining fresh momentum by top- pling South Africa for only the second time in 27 games. Gatland should be delighted he has a player of Hook’s experience still on board despite reports of him contemplating international retirement earlier this year. That speculation prompted talk he might miss out this autumn but he was named in the squad last month and his versatility won him a place on the bench ahead of Dan Biggar.
Hook, l i ke all the Wales team, l ooked downbeat afterwards. He felt the team had shown great resilience in fighting back after those early injuries and conceding a second try, du Plessis scoring from a lineout move, in the 17th minute. That gave South Africa a lead of 17-6 and previous Wales teams would have folded against such odds. However, the accurate kicking of Halfpenny and their in-built defiance cut the visitors’ lead to only17-12 at half-time.
Hook explained: ‘It was a case of coming together and trying our best. At the end of the first half we threw the kitchen sink at them, and in fairness to them, they defended well.’
Captain Sam Warburton was frustrated at bad luck and the failure of his team to capitalise on good amounts of possession and territory. ‘There’s a massive amount of frustration,’ he said. ‘We had genuine belief we could have won.’