Staff Reporter.
Malcolm Marx scored the decisive try as the Springboks fought from behind to claim a 23-18 victory over Wales, their first win in Cardiff since 2013.
The Springboks went into the break 12-9 behind after a hotly contested first half in which they were probably their own worst enemies. Whenever the Boks seemed to be gaining momentum and threatening, a plethora of penalties and errors cost them possession and territory.
To their credit, Wales did really well to punish the Springboks every time they made it into South African territory, with Dan Biggar slotting all four his penalty attempts.
South Africa had the better of the physical battle and were throwing players in to contest the breakdown, while they were unlucky not to get more from a dominant maul in the first half.
Damian Willemse was forced off in the first half due to a heavy head knock, to be replaced by Frans Steyn for the rest of the match, while Ox Nche was yellow-carded after a build up of penalties eventually had referee Paul Williams losing his patience.
Wales also lost loosehead prop Rhys Carre to a yellow card for maul infringements towards the end of the first half, with Handre Pollard getting his third penalty attempt through to make it a three-point game at the break.
The Springboks started the second half with good momentum. However, much like in first half, they couldn’t convert, lost the ball – due to excellent work from Ellis Jenkins – and then gave away a penalty which Dan Biggar converted to make it 15-9.
Frans Steyn’s magnificent long-range penalty and Pollard’s fourth attempt drew the Boks momentarily level, but Biggar again punished some more poor discipline with his sixth penalty putting Wales 18-15 up with 15 minutes to play.
However, the Boks turned to their kicking game and maul, which finally paid dividends when Malcolm Marx went over the tryline for what turned out to be the decisive try, with Elton Jantjies adding a penalty after the hooter to seal the victory.
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi told Amazon Prime: “What a special day in a packed stadium like this, thank you to everybody that came out.
“Wales is a very strong team, all our concentration was on this specific game.
“We knew Wales would start well. This is very special for us to start the tour and now we focus on the next game.”
Meanwhile England launched their Autumn Nations Series with an 11-try demolition of Tonga in front of a sold-out Twickenham.
The 81,000 back for the first time since March 2020 were treated to five first-half tries from the hosts.
The pace slowed before Marcus Smith’s try got the crowd on their feet and kicked off a late England onslaught.
The dominant performance came after captain Owen Farrell was unable to play because of a positive Covid-19 test.
England have much sterner Tests to come, as they face Australia next Saturday before hosting world champions South Africa.
Elsewhere a second-string New Zealand side scored seven tries as they beat Italy 47-9 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Finlay Christie opened the scoring before man of the match Dane Coles scored twice in the first half.
The Azzurri stayed in the match thanks to two penalties from Paolo Garbisi before the break but New Zealand pulled clear in the final quarter.
Sevu Reece crossed before Asafo Aumua scored twice, either side of a Hoskins Sotutu try, to seal the win.