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Congrats to Wales on a good performance, and it's clearly a positive step that they are no longer happy with just 'competing' and are disappointed with the loss. Some interesting talent is coming through for Wales and the future looks bright.

As an SA Supporter, I won't bore you with all my moans about our tactics, team selection or our nutcase of a coach (and we have had quite a few of those in the past!). Suffice to say that it was an interesting experiment to watch a team with two hookers and two scrum-halves (although I accept that Ruan's situation is not clear-cut), but I can only assume that the experiment to see how we cope without European-based players has proved that there is no decent specialist tight-head in the whole country.

Anyway, all the best to Wales against the Aussies and ABs, should be interesting.

Nice article spot on with the mood i'm feeling. Gutted that we lost the game and lost two big lineouts near the end and also got turned over on the scrum which was dis
appointing late in the game.

we should have one......

The Welsh performance yesterday, prior to the euphoria of the six nations, would have been praised by the Welsh supporters and nation alike and rightly so. They played with pride, skill and inventiveness and were unlucky in the end not to win.
The "new" stars are in the ascendancy and some of the old stalwarts are holding their own but only just.
Well done and looks good for the rest of the matches and then the six nations.
The only cautious note is that there are no easy internationals these days and after watching Scotland against New Zealand the six nations will be even more difficult in 2009.

All in all, it was a good performance from Wales yesterday but the frustrating thing was the amount of overlaps missed by not doing the simple thing (drawing the man and then giving the ball). Also, the age old problem of the lineout came back to haunt us again - why can't we have a simple and effective lineout?

On the plus side though - we seemed to have an added aggression around the ruck area which we never seemed to have against the Southern Hemisphere sides (especially in the second half). Powell and Halfpenny played extremely well, and also Shanklin when we got going. With the creative flair of Henson to come back, we might give the All Blacks and Australia a bit of a fright if we keep up the intensity and aggression.

What an awesome display by the Welsh debutants. But for a few mistakes at crucial times the game was ours for the taking.
Whilst I understand Gatland's frustration it's a measure of how much this team has developed in 12 months that we now expect such high class performances.
What price a year ago for a Grand Slam and taking the World Champions to the wire?
Greatness is now expected of this team in the next year or two and I doubt there'll be too many more disappointments. Our furture looks promising.
After yesterday I'm looking forward to the All Blacks game with renewed optimism.
Cymru Am Byth!

You are right Tom, cava is not in the same class as champagne, but those of us who have enjoyed living in Fiji will tel you kava is the ideal 'hair of the dog' after a night of champagne!

We clearly missed the vision and skills of Henson. We hardly got halfpenny and shane into the game. Ian evans is rubbish!

Wales played well but would not have deserved to win. Though the Boks were lacking at times in many areas of the game, Wales were never really as close to causing an upset as the scoreline might indicate. Perhaps understandably, there has been a fair bit of hype in the UK press about this being a result that 'got away' etc etc. To put things in perspective, Wales played with home advantage, the Boks were rusty after a long gap from international duty, Wales were outscored by two tries to nil and were lucky not to concede at least a third, the Boks never got out of third gear and quite obviously were not interested in anything but a victory however it was achieved. If Wales is to progress in competitive rugby, a more honest assestment by domestic commentators will be necessary and teams should not be duped by 'the promised land is nigh' talk. Wales have the talent to progress but they have a long way to go to win a World Cup.

To Saffaview. Not disagreeing with your overall point, but this was Wales' first international since the summer in SA, so from an international point of view they have had a longer gap than SA. The players have, admittedly, been playing at club level, but only had six days together prior to the match yesterday.

"or the otherwise faultless Lee Byrne"
Don't think so Tom. There was more than 1 poor kick, e.g. the one he kicked dead from inside his own half thus handing SA another great attacking position they didn't deserve. This combined with Cooper's awful box kicks was the cause of much frustration where we were sat.

The other thing we couldn't understand was why Cooper was left on so long. Gatland may not be to blame for Lee Byrne's knock on but he was responsible for picking Cooper ahead of Peel and leaving Cooper on for so long.

To be fair Leigh's debut was great to see and Gatland can take credit for that selection.

Yes good effort from the Welsh boys and they never gave up. I still think to compete top level we have to have a proper league structure to be fair to the players. (which we don't in my opinion have in Wales at present). There is no shortage of talent in Wales - and this was evident yesterday - there just needs be a more competitive environment in our season to progress and compete with the likes of South Africa, NZ and the Aussies - and yes beat them sometimes. You are judged at the end of the day if you win.

sensiblejames1

Fair article. We lost because we went back to convention and kicked too much (the only people in our team who should be allowed to kick are Hook and Byrne), were too slow at moving the ball from rucks plus the old weaknesses at lineout and ball retention in the tackle (Shane!!). However to go so close when not playing that well was encouraging. Personally I don't care about losing to SA as long as we can beat the All Blacks!! Just once in my life time and I can die happy.

I felt wales played well but the boks deserved the win for their dogged defence and the amazingly slick set-peice.
Wales just lacked the cutting edge and there always seemed to be a green jersey pop up at the wrong time for wales.
I though Andy Powell played like a proper ball carrying 8. But Jamie Roberts looked a little lost, he was pretty inefficient and had a poor game, Henson should start againt Austrailia and NZ. I'd like to see Gatland give a call up to Jon Davies as well he is brilliant centre who can player either In or Out, he a real physical presence for the Scarlets and should be in their starting line-up, Plus he's only 20/21. Also Dwayne Peel should start, he was far better thean Cooper.

And for SA i think that Pineaar is a very talented player, I've been following him for a while wih the sharks and think he has a brilliant kicking game. Especially when the other back chase the kicks. But I think Wales gave them to much respect in the opening minutes. Plus the wingers have to chase the kick more.

What no-one has commented on is the pathetic performance of the referee. From the time that he missed the carry over until the last minute, when he penalised a Springbok for holding on to the ball before he had even gone to ground, he was totally on Wales's side, so much so that he should have been wearing a red shirt.

SA have had to suffer a few lousy refs in the last few years - the name of Stuart Dickinson comes easily to mind - but Roland's performace was possibly the worst.

I have to admit that I do not agree with MickfromSA. There were at least two occasions where SA infringements ought to have resulted in yellow cards and penalty tries. But, Wales failed to take the chances they had to wrap up the game. More to the point, I think that Mr Fordyce has failed to report on the biggest game that was played in Cardiff that afternoon... shame on you.

I am so proud to be Welsh after the stirring display put on by Wales in the 2nd half on Saturday. I was also left feeling very frustrated by the end result.

There were some very good try scoring opportunities that were missed (like Howley said) but overall it was a huge improvement, and the right players stepped up to the plate when needed.

I am still puzzled by selecting Stephen Jones at number 10 ahead of Hook. Yes, he is a stalwart and a fantastically steady 10, but he doesn't have the same attacking swerve and vigour Hook has. Look at how penetrative we were when Hook came on and started throwing his flat passes. Jones stands too flat and his pass isn't as quick as it once was.

Lineout needs to be worked on heavily. Why throw to the middle where Matfield the lineout master is standing when we had a better chance of front ball and starting something from there? I think lineout calls need to be judged a little better and more thought out.

Overall, a great performance. Lets hope it is kept up for the Aussies and NZ.

Go Wales!!!

Does anyone else think that the impact of ELV's made the first half a little boring?

Many of the rules are 4/5 years too late, but I was a little bored by the aerial bombardment that went on for most of the 1st half (and some of the second). It wasn't until Wales decided to run with it that it became interesting.

I'm really opposed to many of them, such as the collapsing of mauls (on health and safety grounds, and, as someone raised in the North of England, it's how we play) as well as the lineout rule.

I hope that many of them are dropped next year, and not passed just to please the Australians. Maybe this has given them time to find a quartet of decent props.

Only good thing is the referees policing of the rucks and mauls. It's about time the England and Southern Hemisphere method of diving over the ball and slowing it down was punished!!!

From a performance like this i think we should definately beat the Aussies.

Powell was sensational on saturday and i certainly think he is a long-term starting back-rower for us.

I've read on 606 that Hook was responsible for the defeat. But, having watched the replay over and over again i've concluded to myself that he wouldn't have been able to see De Villiers racing up (his view was being impared by Ian Evans) and rightly thought we have an overlap, one pass to Halfpenny and we're in. Hook took the best option and chose to pass instead of getting smashed by Smit and Burger. Sadly, we all know what happened.

Gatland is right to have a go at the team because at the end of the day our set-pieces are still the weakest part of our game and must be sorted out ASAP. We need a reliable Hooker rather than the Locks in my opinion.

The most positive note is that we can survive (just) without Henson, when Peel and Hook came on they completely changed the way the game was being run. The game became too quick paced in places for the boks and really it was only a welsh mistake which kept on saving them. I'm sure Field Marshall Edwards will have drilled these errors out of them come All Blacks Day...i can smell a victory against one of the other two SH teams.

CYMRU AM BYTH!

I just feel that the boks did not play at there full potential. Maybe they just never took the game too seriously knowing in the back of their minds that they'll win

the boks played rugby the 1st half and went home during the 2nd half. If they played the full 80min we pretty much would've won by a bigger margin.

There were 3 key things missing from this Welsh team ;
1. Composure,particularly in the last 15mins ,which is about leadership
2. An effective lineout.
3. Lack of midfield penetration,which despite his blunder, improved after Hook came on. I cannot remember a Welsh side ever losing with so much possession.
Therefore, I cannot see a win against NZ or the Aussies,even if they are lucky enough to have a fit Henson.

For me Wales are at least 12 months away from beating any of the worlds top sides.
any team that can miss one man so much, ie; Gavin Henson, cannot yet aspire to beat the likes of SA.
However all the signs are there for us to be very optimistic for the future, be assured that Leigh Halfpenny is just one of quite a line of younger players waiting to come through, but at the moment either through injury or just not getting the game time they are not yet ready.
In the meantime that will give the coachs, both regional and national, time to work on the present squad to iron out things like the lineout and working under pressure.
The plain fact is that there's too much talent in this squad for it not to happen, and although I'm very angry that our team didn't win on Saturday, I am very optimistic that this team is heading in the right direction.

Gatland summed it up...'Big teams win matches like this'.
Wales 'aint a big team, far from it.

The curse of Welsh rugby since Bob Norster last pulled on a red shirt has been a complete lack of line out expertise. The home nations, as well as the rest of the rugby World have stolen line out ball and subsequently games for years. The opposition is happy to give penalties away in the Welsh half as they stand a 50:50 chance of taking the ball, when it really counts. Unless two target men of consistency and a hooker who can hit the mark time after time are found Wales will always struggle in this facet of the game. The emergence of Andy Powell and Leigh Halfpenny at the highest level is encouraging and they will improve. Wales to beat Aus, and to go close against the Kiwis. With these games and the six nations to prove themselves I hope to see a host of these players in a different Red Shirt in June 2009, here in South Africa

Of the two sides I thought SA have more to worry about, apart from 2 opportunist tries there was not much to write home about.
This was much worse than when they lost to Oz on home soil in August.

For Wales, the perrenial problem, a national characteristic is lack of confidence!!

After the Powell break, all Alan Wyn Jones had to do was sell the dummy which Habana had already bought and he would have been in under the posts.... and Ryan Jones's kick through with a clear 2 to 1 overlap is unforgiveable - the capacity of Ospreys to miss opportunities is seeping through into the Welsh Team.

A previous post that Rolland should have been wearing a red jersey is laughable. On 2 great try scoring opportunities - one after the Powell break for apparently "holding on" and the second in the dying minutes when he adjudged Peel to have knocked on 10m out in broken when he clearly hadn't touched the ball showed a tendancy to side with the Boks in critical moments which swings results.

Talking of confidence, its time to give Hook the N° 10 shirt once and forall and give him his head - had that been the policy the Boks might not have been so lucky - it would have been 6 points more to Wales and probably no interception!

I've only just come out of my black cloud, hence the delay in response. I cannot believe how Wales gifted this game to South Africa. I'm as livid as Warren Gatland. There's a certain edge missing from the skillset and I just can't put my finger on it. Canada should be torn to pieces on Friday in my humble opinion. Ireland put 55 on them, Wales should be looking for at least 100, not least for compensation !!