World Champions South Africa made an impressive start under new coach Peter de Villiers with a comfortable 43-17 win against Wales on Saturday.
The ‘Boks, with several World Cup stars starting the match, scored four tries to Wales’ two, and it was Bath fly-half Butch James who led the assault with four conversions and five penalties. Wales, the reigning Six Nations champions, looked out of their depth on the Highveld and will have to improve significantly if they are to be a factor at Pretoria next week.
Coach Warren Gatland admitted his side were outplayed by the World Champions.
PHOTO: AFP
“Frankly, it was pretty embarrassing,” Gatland said. “Our handling and discipline was poor. They deserved to win and we just weren’t good enough.”
De Villiers was understandably pleased with the result.
“It wasn’t easy going for us, but I’m very happy. The guys didn’t look so good early on, but they picked themselves up in the second half. We’ll bank this one and live from here. But there is some hard work ahead of us,” he said.
James returned to the national team and quickly made his presence felt with two early strikes, handing the home side a deserved 6-0 lead. Wales No. 10 Stephen Jones pulled one back, before James added two further three-pointers for a 12-3 lead for the ‘Boks.
Neither side managed a decent try scoring opportunity in the opening quarter, with the visitors’ space shut down by an impressive ‘Bok backline, while the De Villiers’ team found rugby under the “old” laws a lot more restrictive than they have been accustomed to. The majority of the ‘Boks have been playing under the Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) used in the Super 14 competition, which promotes expansive play.
The ‘Boks battled here in the little space they were allowed by the men from Wales. It took the world champions all of 30 minutes to find a way past the visitors. Fullback Conrad Jantjes finishing off a good move in which center Adrian Jacobs and flanker Luke Watson featured prominently. James added the extras for a handy 19-3 lead to the ‘Boks.
The Welsh hit back through Jamie Roberts, who was on debut, when he crossed in the left corner. The fullback was set up by his center Sonny Parker, but only after winger Shane Williams had given the visitors some impetus when he joined the line and beat a few defenders with his nifty footwork. Jones converted from the touchline, but the ‘Boks restored their advantage with a fifth James penalty on the stroke of halftime with the score at 22-10.
The ‘Boks took full control of the contest after the restart when Jean de Villiers and Pierre Spies crossed for tries two and three, both converted by James, before Shane Williams scored a second try for his side after beating Bryan Habana with a wonderful side-step.
South Africa though, with all their bench players on the field at the end, including World Cup stars Victor Matfield and Percy Montgomery, finished the stronger of the outfits and it was Montgomery who scored his team’s fourth try.
James, with four conversions and five penalties, was named man of the match.
Springbok skipper John Smit said the victory was a “good first step” under the new coach.
“We had very little time to prepare after the Super 14 and I think the progress we’ve made is phenomenal. We’re a new team with a new coach and to start the year like this is great,” he said.
ARGENTINA 21, SCOTLAND 15
AFP, ROSARIO, Argentina
Argentina beat Scotland 21-15 in the first Test on Saturday, scoring two tries, and five penalties from the boot of Chris Paterson was the tourists’ haul.
Scotland had been hoping for revenge from their 19-13 quarter-final World Cup loss to Argentina last October, but tries from Alvaro Tejeda in the first half, then Gonzalo Tiesi in injury time, played a large part in their winning points haul. Paterson kept Scotland in the game with nine points before the break, when they trailed by a point.
Scotland went ahead after 10 minutes when Paterson put the first points on the board with a penalty. The home side got back on terms with fly-half Federico Todeschini’s penalty.
Debutant hooker Tejeda gave Argentina the initiative when he put the Pumas ahead with a try in the 21st minute. Center Felipe Contepomi kicked the conversion, however Scotland were kept in the game by another penalty from the boot of Paterson.
Paterson kicked over another three points and would have put Scotland ahead had he not missed a further kick. Todeschini and Paterson both failed with later penalty attempts as the home side held their slim 10-9 advantage at halftime.
After the break two more penalties from Todeschini and two more from Paterson kept the match close right until the end, but it was Tiesi’s injury time try that made the difference.
JAPAN 21, AUSTRALIA A 42
AFP, FUKUOKA, Japan
Australia A fought off a second-half rally by Asian champions Japan to post a 42-21 win with six tries in their opening game of the Pacific Nations Cup yesterday.
Australia scored tries through Morgan Turinui, Gerrard, Kimlin and Van Humphries. Gerrard slotted over every conversion opportunity.
Australia A captain Turinui said his squad made good on all the opportunities they were presented in the first half.
“And that gave us a comfort zone to protect our lead,” he said.
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