365 Sporting Days

After a pretty horrible week of online rugby nonsense it felt good to be going to a game. I took the train option for a change, I stayed with friends on Friday then drove to Reading, that worked really well all round in spite of the train losing power on the way back!

This was a chance to watch the World Champions in my favourite stadium with a ticket that cost just £20; it was always going to be a big ask for a young Wales side that had lost Dan Biggar and Liam Williams in the week before the match. IN the run up to this World Cup several high profile players had also retire from international rugby. Including talisman Alun Wyn Jones, who played 1=in 158 games for Wales; he’ll ply his trade at Toulon next season. Justin Tipuric also announced his retirement in May after 93 appearances

Josh Navidi had announced his retitrement in April after sustaining a serious neck injury against South Africa in July 2022, it was great too see/hear him as the Dj at the stadium. He has a used car dealership in Barry, which he started setting up in 2020. I with him every success with both ventures!

Most of the South African squad were on the pitch pre-game and the talent that wasn’t in the team on Saturday was immense, it was good to see them having fun, with Eben Etzebeth trying to hit the bar alongside on the the hookers, both failed however. Handre Pollard was also to be seen and reports seems to differ around his fitness, I’d say Fly Half is the one area that South Africa could do with boosting!

he change to the eligibility rules for Wales; a requirement to have 25 caps, has brought Will Rowlands back into the fold but excluded Centre Joe Hawkins, the 20 year old left Ospreys to join Exeter scouting out of representing his country. Hawkins came through the age grade system and captained the Wales U20’s side. Henry Thomas who 7 England caps but qualifies for Wales through his Swansea born father started on the bench. Wales fans must hope that thinh=gs change or that Hawkins makes his way back to Wales.

To a degree this was an exhibition match for South Africa and the scoreline reflected that, the stats, the stats make for some interesting reading.

• Clean Breaks – Wales 5 – South Africa 12
• Rucks Won – Wales 96 – South Africa 97
• Offloads. – Wales 4 – South Africa 9
• Defenders Beaten – Wales 20 – South Africa 26
• Mauls Won. – Wales 6. – South Africa 7
• Turnovers Won. – Wales 2 – South Africa 5
• Tackles Made – Wales 132 – South Africa 104
• Tacles Missed. – Wales 26. – South Africa 20
• Scrums Success – Wales 67% – South Africa 100%

Wales chose to start the match with 2 young props and they struggled in the scrum, the mind of experience needed to be successful at scrum time comes with age more than any other position on the pitch.

I’d been hoping for a Wales win and a spectacular try from Cheslin Kolbe, he made nearly double the metres than the nearest Welsh player Cal Evans, Kolbe making 124 and Evans 63. The next closest was Jesse Kriel with 109 metres, Kriel scored 2 tries including one that saw him run most of the length of the pitch. Kolbe got nowhere neat the try line, there were always defenders to stop him.

South Africa scored 3 tries in the first half and were awarded a penalty try when Rio Dyer pushed the ball into touch, he saw a yellow card and there was plenty of discussion as the SA player had missed the ball completely, but penalty try it was. The score was Wales 9 South Africa 24 art half-time. Sam Costelow playing at fly half for Wales had scored 3 penalties in the half; it seemed a strange decision to me in a warm up match, kicking practice can happen at any time, line outs against World Class opposition not so much. However Wales were keeping parity until the penalty try was awarded.

The try scoring continued for South Africa in the second half and they added another 4, including the length of the pitch try for Jesse Kriel, it was exciting stuff, if disappointing for the largest portion of the crowd, although there were plenty of South African fans there. It was especially good to see Siya Kolisi playing, he was substituted at half-time, but hopefully he’s still good to go.

Wales did get a try with 71 minutes on the clock as Sam Parry took the ball to fly over the line, the final result was Wales 16 South Africa 52. A hard score to take, but I’m sure Warren Gatland will have taken more than a few positives.