Wales left grasping at straws
THE WELSH record against South Africa makes sorry reading, with this Cardiff defeat leaving Wales with only one victory in 19 matches against the Springboks, but the notebook of coach Mike Ruddock reads a little better this morning. At least there are straws to clutch. Just a pity they could not get hold of Bryan Habana.
Never was the rugby cliché ‘no substitute for pace’ more apt. It was the most glaring difference between the sides and in wing Habana South Africa have surely the fastest man in the world game.
It took the Bulls wing only 12 minutes to strike, taking the scoring pass from centre Jean de Villiers. Stephen Jones, the Wales outside-half, won his 50th cap yesterday and he might have cast his mind back to his debut in Pretoria in 1998 when Wales were thrashed 96-13.
Wales are a million times better than that these days and Jones marked the occasion with an outstanding all-round performance. His kicking from hand and tee was true and long and he put in a stack of tackles as South Africa ran their big men at him. Actually the entire Springbok side is constructed of large units, with
biltong toughness everywhere. An already heavyweight back division was supplemented yesterday by strapping outsidehalf Meyer Bosman, a big man from the little town of Bethlehem, who scored the winning try in the Currie Cup final for the Cheetahs. No wonder Wales moved captain Gareth Thomas, who put in another wholehearted effort yesterday, to centre.
Habana may be a Bull by province, but the Pretorian runs like a cheetah and five minutes into the second-half was over for his second try of the match and remarkably his 15th in 14 tests.
South Africa might already have been out of sight by then but for the defective radar of full-back Percy Montgomery. South Africa’s leading points scorer is either brilliant or useless. When Percy points at the posts you never know what to expect and some of his misses yesterday were comical. Judging by his contribution he obviously retains great affection for Wales after his tenure at Newport. To cap it all he was sent off 10 minutes from time for his second yellow card. The first was for holding back Shane Williams without the ball. Then Williams was his victim again with a high tackle as the Osprey selfishly tried to make it to the try-line, with prop Duncan Jones free outside.
Before the game there were reports of discontent in the Wales camp with rumours that not everybody is happy with coach Ruddock. There should be discontent after the hiding from New Zealand and the poor performance in a narrow win over Fiji. How deep the supposed rift is nobody knows, but it is thought to be a little more serious than someone pinching Gavin Henson’s hair gel.
It is only eight months and five games after the grand slam triumph and only three days after Ruddock was named Wales coach of the year. The team bus was presumably second.
Wales, with a lengthening injury crisis and missing six Lions yesterday, would have been encouraged, for this was definitely several steps up in performance levels, with the pack — with No 8 Michael Owen, to the fore — working hard to suppress the strength and weight of the Springboks, who in locks Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha have arguably the finest second-row in the world.
Flanker Schalk Burger might have caught the eye as he fought for the scary hair award with Wales props Duncan and Adam Jones, but the most effective carrier in the loose was fellow flanker Juan Smith. CJ Van der Linde, the sort and size of prop who considers the likes of Shane Williams to be breakfast, also put himself about, while that old warhorse Os du Randt played most of the game, coming on as an early substitute and scrum stabiliser.
Matthew Watkins and Ceri Sweeney both looked sharp when they came on, and Michael Phillips a better option at scrum-half than Gareth Cooper, who despite his pace of foot, was slow of service at the base. After wing Conrad Jantjes has scored South Africa’s third try, it was Sweeney who raised Welsh hopes of an epic comeback, taking an inside ball from Shane Williams after a nice offload from Owen. It was not to be and Danie Rossouw’s late try confirmed victory.