1
Bizarre late twist denies Springboks coach Erasmus winning start against Wales
Rassie Erasmus was denied victory in his first match as South Africa coach in bemusing fashion as the Springboks suffered a dramatic late 22-20 defeat to Wales.
ADVERTISEMENT
Erasmus named seven uncapped players in his first team as boss, but the inexperienced Springboks overturned a 14-3 half-time deficit to lead 20-17 with six minutes left in Washington DC.
Debutant Travis Ismaiel and Makazole Mapimpi went over before Robert du Preez’s penalty put South Africa ahead, but the RFK Stadium crowd was treated to an unexpected finale.
Du Preez saw a kick blocked from the restart following his three-pointer and, after regathering the ball in South Africa’s in-goal area, had a second attempted clearance charged down by Seb Davies, the ball deflecting off Ismaiel and into the path of Ryan Elias to touch down and hand Wales a fortuitous victory.
South Africa next face England in a three-match Test series on home soil, while Wales travel to South America for two games with Argentina.
⏱️FULL TIME | Wales close out a win in Washington in a tight affair against @Springboks to kick off their Summer Tour of the Americas. #WALvRSA pic.twitter.com/BRjhpI6jX2
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) June 2, 2018
Hallam Amos was pinned for not releasing the ball, providing Elton Jantjies with the opportunity to break the deadlock with the boot in the 19th minute, and he succeeded where Gareth Anscombe had failed for Wales 14 minutes earlier.
Amos redeemed himself as Wales, having lost wing Steff Evans to injury moments earlier, went over for the game’s first try nine minutes before half-time, profiting after captain Ellis Jenkins, leading the side in the absence of Alun Wyn Jones, had stolen the ball at the breakdown.
ADVERTISEMENT
Wales continued in the ascendancy and four minutes later Tomos Williams marked his debut with a try after Jenkins, Davies and George North combined.
But the Springboks were undaunted by their double-digit half-time deficit, which was reduced to four points when Ismaiel picked off an Amos pass and raced away.
Anscombe knocked over a three-pointer to make it 17-10, but the scores were levelled when South Africa capitalised after Owen Watkin was sin-binned for deliberately knocking the ball out of play, Mapimpi going over wide on the left and Jantjies converting.
The Springboks piled on the pressure and looked to have completed an impressive comeback when Du Preez converted a penalty with his first touch of the ball.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, there was a bizarre final twist as Wales’ kick pressure paid off and Elias jumped on the loose ball after the double deflection to give Gatland’s men a third win in a row over the Springboks.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Looked up Grant Constable on google and reply was doppelgänger for Ben Smith
31 Go to commentsIt is so good that we now all get excited and debate who is best and emotionally get involved. We all back our teams which is great. Up until about 15-20 years ago, NZ was basically on its own, and then Saffa, Aussie and sometimes French and English were there. We now have at least 5-6 really top sides and another 4 who keep improving. This is so healthy. So we should not resort to rubbish comments and unhealthy debate, but rather all be chuffed that the product we watch is not competitive, exciting and often uncertain. It would be so good if World Rugger could find a way to align the rules to professional players as well as spectators. Live rugby games are SO boring as there is SO much down time as we wait for refs and TMOs and whoever else to look at every small event going back endless phases with the hope of eventually find a minute infringement to then decide cancel what was a wonderful try. This is the ultimate cork back in the bottle moment and feels like every balloon is always being popped. Come on- we must be better with the rules.
31 Go to comments“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
1 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
31 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
31 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
31 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
31 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
31 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
31 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to commentsSo Ireland will be tired, despite having the most rested test squad in the world. They only play tests, champions cup and urc play off games ffs! Case in point; Leinster sent a B squad to SA for their last two games while their first xv rested up and trained at their leisure for the sf vs Saints at the so called ‘neutral venue’ of Croke Park. So tired? Do me a favour… And as for “people’s champions”? Seriously??? Outside of Ireland they are respected for their ability to win 6N. And of course plenty of inconsequential test friendlies without any real pressure. WC ko games when the pressure is white hot? Not so much…
31 Go to commentsSurprising how standing down or benching a player can do wonders for their motivation. Several players this week in that category.
2 Go to commentsHaha lads lads lads, that’s how you have a holiday In Majorca
4 Go to commentshit on Lynagh was defo late and card-worthy. The other 2 are bang on OK. Hurts you at Test level if youre timing is off and the nostrils are flared. Jerry C knew when to lean in on one, Finau just needs to keep his discipline and head straight.
7 Go to commentsSlade was exceptional against Gloucester. Not only was he doing the classic Slade stuff of running amazing lines and timing passes to perfection to put his wingers into space, he was kicking goals, flying off the line smashing people and crashing into rucks like a flanker… his hair even looked on point. 😍
1 Go to commentsThat’s really sad, hope everyone involved is ok. At least he had pants on.
4 Go to comments