Springboks Succumb To Wales

Wales secured their first win over a slumberous South Africa since 1999 thanks to a 12-6 victory at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in a one-off Test match on Saturday.  Leigh Halfpenny opened the scoring in the third minute with a penalty to hand the hosts an early advantage.  The tourists were level in the tenth minute when Pat Lambie slotted a three-pointer.

Some five minutes later Halfpenny might have restored the Welsh lead but his effort from the touchline struck the near up right.  On 31 minutes the Bok flyhalf missed an attempt at goal as well as a tight first half ended 3-3. After seven second half minutes Halfpenny slotted his second successful kick of the day to hand the Dragons a 6-3 lead.

Just two minute later Lambie landed a 50-metre special to level matters going into the final half-hour in the Welsh capital.  The see-saw nature of the Test continued with Halfpenny slotting a 53^rd minute penalty to make it 9-6 to Warren Gatland’s men.  The home scrum forced the South Africans backwards and from the resultant penalty Halfpenny made it 12-6 to Gatland’s side.

Heyneke Meyer’s men were dealt a serious blow on 57 minutes when captain Jean De Villiers left the knee with a dislocated knee injury.  It became worse for the Springboks in the 63^rd minute when Cornal Hendricks was yellow-carded after challenging Halfpenny in the air.  Willie Le Roux’s knock-on in his own 22 with ten minutes to go handed the hosts a five-metre scrum and the Cardiff faithful were starting to sniff blood.

There would be no further troubling the scorekeepers as the hosts handed themselves a timely boost with a southern hemisphere scalp some ten months out from the Rugby World Cup.  The result handed the British nation only their second-ever victory over South Africa.