Wales' 'unlucky play' query receives feedback from World Rugby
Wayne Pivac accepts that Wales need to show a lot more discipline when they target a Test series-levelling victory over South Africa on Saturday. The Welsh face the Springboks in Bloemfontein after a pulsating first Test that world champions South Africa won 32-29 following Damian Willemse’s penalty with the game’s final kick.
While Wales went toe to toe with South Africa and produced arguably their finest performance of Pivac’s coaching reign, they were also punished by referee Nika Amashukeli. The Georgian official yellow-carded four Wales players – Dan Biggar, Alun Wyn Jones, Louis Rees-Zammit and Rhys Carre – with the tourists briefly reduced to twelve men during a frantic finale.
Wales also conceded 15 penalties to the Springboks’ seven, plus three free-kicks, with a cumulative effect of that indiscipline ultimately costing them. Pivac said: “It is really a matter of focusing on what we can bring to the game and hopefully that is going to be a lot more discipline than last week because we let ourselves down clearly in that area of the game.
“To hold South Africa as close as we did for as long as we did, with the penalty count as it was, is a testament to some of the good work we did do.”
Pivac, who confirmed that Wales had sought and received feedback from World Rugby, underlined his disappointment with Rees-Zammit’s sin-binning, which came seven minutes from time. The Gloucester wing was penalised after a try-saving tackle on Springboks replacement Willie le Roux, having been adjudged to have intentionally slowed play down.
“That was the most unlucky play in the match,” Pivac added. “Clearly, from our point of view, we thought it was an excellent play. That was a big moment in the game for us and very disappointing. We know there were areas in the game which we need to improve on in terms of our discipline, but we felt also that there were some things which didn’t go our way.”
Pivac has called up wing Alex Cuthbert as a solitary change to the starting XV, replacing Josh Adams who is on the bench where an enforced switch sees uncapped Saracens prop Sam Wainwright taking over from Tomas Francis. He was stood down by Wales’ medical team and has returned home after suffering a concussion during the first Test loss in Pretoria.
North Wales-born Wainwright, 24, was drafted into the tour squad last month as a replacement for the injured Leon Brown and his Test debut now awaits as Wales target a first win against the Springboks in South Africa. Wales centre George North, meanwhile, will equal Stephen Jones’ record as the most-capped Welsh men’s international back with 104 appearances.
In stark contrast to Pivac, his Springboks counterpart Jacques Nienaber made 14 alterations from the series opener, retaining only lock Eben Etzebeth. Wales great Gareth Edwards has been among the critics of South Africa’s selection approach, believing that it disrespects the tourists.
Pivac said: “They will have their reasoning. They have depth and quality throughout their squad and they have experience in this team. We do know the team we will be coming up against will be full of enthusiasm. When you give rugby players an opportunity, most of the time they will take it with both hands.
“We are expecting a South Africa side full of ambition, full of intensity, and we know that they will be coming with one thing in mind and that is to win a Test match. We can’t really gauge the South African team because the team we are playing isn’t the XV we played last week.
“When a coach does what South Africa have done, it is a big pat on the back for their squad. For us, it is about getting our own house in order and making sure we can start as well as we did last week.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments