Wayne Pivac hails South Africa tour as significant step forward for Wales
Wayne Pivac described Wales’ South Africa tour as “a big step in the right direction” despite seeing their dream of Test series glory dashed.
South Africa took the decider 30-14 in Cape Town, with head coach Jacques Nienaber having recalled eight of the Springboks’ 2019 World Cup-winning team after Wales levelled the series seven days ago.
And it worked a treat as South Africa claimed the series 2-1 through tries from Handre Pollard, Bongi Mbonambi and Siya Kolisi, with Pollard kicking three conversions and three penalties for a 20-point haul.
“For us, it was a big step in the right direction,” Wales head coach Pivac said.
“When we get together again for the autumn series, we will be less than 12 months from the World Cup, so we need to build on this tour. I am very pleased that the positives outweigh the negatives.
“The players enjoy rolling their sleeves up and each other’s company. There is disappointment about losing a game of rugby, but, overall, we will have a couple of beers tonight and it will be positive heading into the next series.
“I am a little frustrated and disappointed with the scoreline, but I am certainly not disappointed with the effort that has gone in during the last six weeks.
“We came here with a goal to try and win a series and we were serious about that. It wasn’t just talk and the players worked really well together.”
Wales’ second Test win in Bloemfontein was their first against the Springboks on South African soil, while they were beaten by Damian Willemse’s last-gasp penalty in the first Test, going down 32-29.
Pivac added: “Obviously, we are pleased to have got the history with the win last week.
“You look at the first Test and there were one or two moments you look back on and think, ‘If only’. We certainly know we played very well on that occasion.
“We were right in the game and then to win the second Test, coming to South Africa I don’t think many people would have predicted those first two weeks.”
Wales battled hard throughout on a difficult surface at the DHL Stadium and their defensive resistance often proved heroic.
But they could only muster a Tommy Reffell try and three penalties from captain Dan Biggar as they missed out on matching series success for Ireland in New Zealand and England in Australia.
Just four months after losing at home to Italy in the Guinness Six Nations, though, Wales will rightly view the tour as being successful in so many ways, particularly with one eye on the 2023 World Cup.
Biggar said: “We didn’t start particularly well and South Africa had a lot of possession and momentum and got out to a lead.
“South Africa strangled the game a little bit and credit to them for that. It felt like we spent a lot of time in our own half.
“Overall, I would say it will always be disappointing to lose at the end, but to get a win over here is a huge tick. Overall, it’s been a hugely-positive tour.
“From where we came from in the Six Nations (Wales lost at home to Italy in March), I don’t think anybody could have predicted how it went.
“We fell a little bit short after a long season, but we’ve said this is the standard we need to get to now, not the Six Nations, where we fell off a little bit.
“Naturally, Wayne and I will be disappointed with the overall result, but when we are on our holidays in the next few weeks we will look back on this tour with fond memories.”
Reflecting on the Springboks’ success, Nienaber said: “It was a final for us, and we just had to deliver. There wasn’t an option of not delivering.
“It was not a polished performance. I thought the set-pieces functioned well, but still there were a couple of hiccups there.
“I think there is a lot for us to work on. We created opportunities, like last week, which we didn’t capitalise on.
“We had a long conversation after last week that we have to learn when we are in control of the scoreboard and there is 20 minutes left, how do we think and get aligned in what we are going to do?
“I think this week we were much more aligned and clinical in almost how to play when we have scoreboard pressure, and the type of style that we have to play to finish off the game.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments