The final game of the year for the Boks and it’s against a Wales team who have become something of a hoodoo for the Bokke, having claimed victory over the Green and Gold in 4 of the last 5 Tests between these 2 teams. Prior to that, Wales had only ever claimed 1 victory over the Boks since the sides first met on the famous tour of 1906. The current records show 28 victories for the Boks, 5 for the Welsh and one draw. The Prince William Cup will be the prize on offer for the winner on Saturday.
Rassie Erasmus has named an unchanged lineup, with the exception of Eben Etzebeth on the bench. Embrose Papier did enough to warrant another start at scrumhalf, despite Faf De Klerk being available for the test, with Rassie Erasmus seeming to follow through on his claims of slowly introducing the young scrumhalf to the rigours of test rugby.
The game against Scotland clearly showed where Duane Vermeulen belongs, and that is at No. 8, with Pieter-Steph Du Toit at blindside flank. This adds balance to the loose trio and allows our backline the freedom to operate as they get the required front foot ball. I was also pleased to see less box-kicking in the first-half, although this seemed to change in the second-half.
For the Welsh, Leigh Halfpenny has been ruled out with concussion and will be a big loss for the Dragons, although in Liam Williams they have a more than able replacement. The rest of the lineup is largely the same as that which did duty against Australia two weeks ago. The Boks will have their hands full in dealing with the likes of North, Davie, Parkes and Anscombe in what is a formidable backline. The pack is no less dangerous, with a lethal loose trio, Alun Wyn Jones at lock with Adam Beard, who hasn’t lost a test match yet, and a settled front row.
Bok team vs Wales:
- Steven Kitshoff
- Malcolm Marx
- Frans Malherbe
- RG Snyman
- Franco Mostert
- Siya Kolisi ( c )
- Pieter-Steph Du Toit
- Duane Vermeulen
- Embrose Papier
- Handre Pollard
- Aphiwe Dyantyi
- Damian De Allende
- Jesse Kriel
- S’bu Nkosi
- Willie le Roux
16. Bongi Mbonambi
17. Thomas Du Toit
18. Vincent Koch
19. Eben Etzebeth
20. Francois Louw
21. Ivan van Zyl
22. Elton Jantjies
23. Cheslin Kolbe
Wales
- Nicky Smith
- Ken Owens
- Tomas Francis
- Adam Beard
- Alun Wyn Jones ( c )
- Dan Lydiate
- Justin Tipuric
- Ross Moriarty
- Gareth Davies
- Gareth Anscombe
- Josh Adams
- Hadleigh Parkes
- Jonathan Davies
- George North
- Liam Williams
Reserves:
16. Elliot Dee
17. Rob Evans
18. Dillon Lewis
19. Cory Hill
20. Ellis Jenkins
21. Tomos Williams
22. Dan Biggar
23. Owen Watkin
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I did not realize how bad our record against Wales has turned out recently.
I guess a must win match – hence Rassie’s first choice team playing.
@Bokhoring (Comment 1) : Apart from Faf and Eben
Boks by 40.
what was the point of taking Britz and Aplon on this tour,neither of these two over the hill has beens even made the bench.
Hope they both got window seats on the bus and that Gio at least got a cushion so he could see out the window.
Wales to win this one….
@coolfusion (Comment 5) : Hope not bud. Keep in mind the last twi EOYt matches vs Wales fell outside the test window, so we didn’t have our best available(speaking under correction).
The test vs Wales in USA we know was an abonimation.
@McLovin (Comment 3) : jaat least 40! Boks to spank them!
Soooo…I’m guessing Damian Willemse listed at 15 is a mistake? Please?! Willie should be listed at 15…
@KingCheetah (Comment 6) : Just stirring you know…but to be honest and looking at their results from their 2018 summer tour so far, I would say we have a very good chance of beating them. That if course if we don’t lose the plot on match day again. Also hoping that Papier is a consistent player and de Allende can improve form.
@coolfusion (Comment 9) : Forgot to mention RG. Let’s hope he can also keep focus and discipline for more than one game.
@The hound (Comment 4) : Have to say i agree. Same could be said of some of the other non playing guys, what was the point of taking them?? And Rassie cant sell the BS that he can see from the trainings how they fare, what rubbish- they hold tackle bags and fetch balls and beacons. Hope they got some good sight seeing done at least
Looking at the teams, that is a strong Welsh side. And playing at home they will be tough to beat. Boks will have to be agressive and quick at the rucks or their loosies will have a field day. Their scrum and lineout are solid as well. They arent a spectacular side but do the basics very well and their rush defense is good, although i do feel they are offside a lot of the time. We need big games from 2/8/12 to get us go forward and the get the ball to our hopeful game breakers out wide.
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : Yup its quite normal to take a few youngsters on the tour and blood them to the Springbok life on the road, normally these guys are not expected to play.Ward would have been a great choice, but you only take guys like Apolon and Britz if you are going to play them.
@The hound (Comment 13) : When last did Britz play a rugby game?? As for Ward…i really hope he gets a god shot during Super rugby as him playing behind Am every game may see him seek new pastures in order to kick on his career
@SheldonK (Comment 14) : I think he is better than Am and best centre we’ve had since Jeremy Thompson. 😉
@The hound (Comment 15) : It seems you rate him then 😎 Would you move Am to the wing then to partner Nkosi and Bosch in the back 3?
@SheldonK (Comment 16) : I have a sneaky that Eesterhuzen will not be long with the Sharks,Ward is an ex Bok junior captain and should be seen as the next Shark captain, I’d play the best combination of him ,Am and Louw at 12,13,let them sort it out .
@The hound (Comment 17) : Interesting, you think he will head to UK after super rugby or fulltime to Japan?
@SheldonK (Comment 18) : I don’t know why’d have no evidence to support it but I think he has failed to nail down a Bok spot and contracts I think he will now chase the money.Such a pity because he is so superior to that dumb DeAllende,and the only one who can’t see it is Erasmus.
@The hound (Comment 19) : I feel he is in the same boat as Laumape for the All Blacks. Does a lot more that he isnt given credit for and is a very good player just the coach prefers someone else. But will possibly make the RWC squad or be on standby
@SheldonK (Comment 20) : Laumape is seriously under-rated. That guy is an amazing 12.
Next year if we can get Lambie and Marcell in we will have options on impact. Second half move Elton to FH Pollard to center Lambie full back and Willie to wing. Lots of kicking and running options.
@coolfusion (Comment 22) : Then Marcell and jldp on flanks for impact
@Culling Song (Comment 21) : He made AB squad so he can’t be that undervalued.
@coolfusion (Comment 22) : not a huge fan of Pollard shifting to 12 even if it’s for last 20 min. But that is exactly what Rassie is going to do!
@JD (Comment 25) : But if we could have Lambie pollie and Elton with Willie on wing imagine the kicking angles. I think Pollard getting used to 12 is a good thing. In that I think Rassie is thinking ahead. If he could add the value Matt Giteau did at 12 it could be a game changer plus he has a body advantage in line breaking. Just my opinion.
@JD (Comment 25) : You watching the AB game? Barrett not a Dan Carter by any stretch.
Nkosi has been ruled out for the game. Not sure if he picked up an injury during the warmup
Boks starting full of running
Wales score the first try 7-0
Wales holding onto the ball and making small breaks to work their way into our 22. Second try Wales. Not looking good for SA on defense at the moment
14-0
Papier now starting with Van Zyl’s train building tactics
Boks are going to have pull some serious rabbits out of the hat here
Boks chasing the game by taking penalties from near halfway? Pollard misses and still 14-3
Boks having a grow-a-pornstart-stache competition going
No discipline no structure. The scoreboard is accurate.
Boks need to watch the flying into the rucks. Manage to keep a bit of ball and then Thor dives into a ruck to clean. Wales have a lineout in our 22
Marx saves our bacon with a second turnover penalty
Great break and kick from Papier, but then looses the ball when he tries to regather his kick. Opportunity wasted
@Bokhoring (Comment 39) : Backline for the first time forming a decent line
Boks wins a free kick from the Welsh scrum. Kriel gets very close to scoring
Boks get another chance with a 5m scrum. Needs a good scrum now
Just terrible not reading the line. Lost opportunity
Books ate sloppy
After some bash-bash the Boks get a penalty and takes the scrum.
@coolfusion (Comment 45) : Books are sloppy
1D rugby easily defended by Wales.
Some major disconnect on our side
We clearly deserve our no 5 position. Not in the same class as the top 3 teams.
@Bokhoring (Comment 50) : Based on this half i agree
@coolfusion (Comment 51) : No real structure or intent looks like we are hoping for a lucky rather than showing a real organized attack
The guys look clueless on attack and Wales just breach the gainline at every collision. Kolisi also best decide to captain or just hand it to Duane who seems to be standing in as captain today. Hopefully Rassie has some harsh words for this bunch.
Also can we cut this idiotic wings rushing out bullshit.
Wales patiently unlock our defenses until they score. Boks started well for the first 6 minutes with good interplay, but now settling back into one off runners bashing the ball up
@Hulk (Comment 53) : Agree on the wings senseless rushing up when there is nothing on just placing themselves out of position
@Bokhoring (Comment 54) : A sign of having no plan
So far I say Wales deserve their lead we haven’t shown anything that places us in this game
@coolfusion (Comment 55) : yeah, but this is clearly a team plan as all the wings are doing it and they do it every time.
Q: How to score a try against the Springboks?
A: Float a pass to outside centre, nice and slow. The wing will rush out and simply pass the ball to the wing standing right by the line, notice there’s no defence in front of you and trundle over for an easy 5 pointer.
What is Swys doing with this backline?
As Mallett pointed out we don’t seem to have any set piece moves. Bok playbook consists of two moves – running sideways and shoveling the ball on until the wing runs out of space, and passing to a standing player who drops the head and bashes into the defense, rinse and repeat
I’m sorry but some guys just not carrying load Malherbe cannot just be there for scrums there is other work to be done.
@Hulk (Comment 58) : They rush past an effective defense line. Not that they form up properly for a decent attack either. It’s going to take an extra play to straighten them out every time. Where is the midfield?
Playing like donkeys I’ll be surprised if Wales don’t take this one
@coolfusion (Comment 62) : It will be a surprise if the Boks can pull back the deficit
Second Papier kick being charged down
Elton on – can he spark something from the donkeys
Kolbe can step nicely and take the gaps.
Pieter Steph having to step into wing. We are just searching now…
Boks waste chances by being messy at the rucks
Yay now let’s add to our problems by sending of one of the back who wants to play for the snail
Kolbe is the best player for SA tonight.
Snail van Zyl on – Rassie has given up on winning
Elton showing the forwards how to counter ruck
First scrum Thomas folds the Welshman and wins the penalty
We used Pollard in a lineout??
Kriel scores in the corner
Great caught and pass from Willie made that try
14-8
Ref’s been pretty good
Thomas becoming Marx’s equal in winning turnover penalties
14-11 after good penalty from Jantjies
Pornstar Louw on now
Should have been a penalty to SA for diving on Diyanti. Ref’s first major error
17-11
@Bokhoring (Comment 81) : To be fair he has not been bad, but mauls he has been kak at best
Wales is handling our kicking game better than we handling theirs
@Bokhoring (Comment 84) : Kick at south Africa and we will hand it back to in the middle of the field with little to no pressure
@jdolivier (Comment 85) : That is if we can actually catch the high ball
20-11 Game sealed for Wales
Wales will now just keep kicking on us – working every single time
@Bokhoring (Comment 86) : Agreed
So a win against NZ in Wellington the only highlight for Rassie’s charges, and the rest pretty mediocre.
@Bokhoring (Comment 90) : All blacks have looked off beat this season, lucky win in hindsight. Rassie is not the man for the job it seems, especially with his wp fascination in selecting players. So many good players from all the teams left at home, or not used. Should of, would of, could of season again behind us.
I will possibly make an unpopular call here but i feel that unless he changes something substantial Rassie will end with a worse win/loss record than Alistair Coetzee. The Boks didnt play worse than they have all tour, we just played a smarter side that did the basics well and punished us for shooting up out of the defensive line. We are very blunt on attack with no clever running lines, we just shift the ball through the hands and hope our wings do something magical.
@SheldonK (Comment 92) : In all honesty, the reason I stopped supporting SA was the Japan debacle and I really don’t see that anything has changed. Any team who considers themselves half decent should be able to switch game plans du
@Karl (Comment 93) : *during the game, or at the very least at half time on the coaches instruction. SA just seem to be completely incapable of doing this. Instead they lash themselves in the media after each loss for not being able to switch things up.
The moment of the game for me was Aphiwe Dyantyi doing star jumps in the Welsh backline……he must have been flummoxed as to why they didnt join him but instead decided to run away from him (with the ball nogal) and put it down behind the try line.
Someone should teach these countrymen of JPR and JJ Williams to play nicely.
It was interesting to note that in the after match discussion Nick Mallet twice rightly called out Malcolm Marx by name for buying the dummy that led to the first Welsh try but yet did not once mention Aphiwe Dyantyi for his part in their second try, he did allude to the shooting out of line part but no players name mentioned – I suppose its a legacy of the Ashwin Willemse saga.
Was a big call by both Naas and Butch post match for Frans Steyn to be called up.Fat chance of that happening, but Erasmus has made a rod for his back with his insipid selections and his blatant province bias.Further analysis of his squad, it goes deeper,Pollard ,Papier, and Thomas all were in Province junior squads when he was DOR at W.P.
Must burn his arse to have to pick Marx,Mostert,and Faf,but he has that covered in Mbonambi,Sckerling and Pepier.
Once again in this game Koilisi and Malherbe did a good job as scrum inspectors, and Ethebeth,posed in his best Conan the barbarian stance ,glared at the opposition and did fuck all else.
But the thing that got me was when Vermullen who had usurped the captaincy from the kick off was given the comms set ,by the water boy on the field probably shat on by Stick and then replaced 3 minutes later, Never seen that before
Just some food for thought..Ireland are currently playing the best rugby in the world. They do not attempt any offloads in the tackle which reduces their error rate. They pass the ball to each other a lot before taking contact, both backs and forwards. They are very aggressive and accurate at each ruck. Their back 3 are fairly tall and good under the high ball. And their backs dont just run straight but attempt angle runs and look for space. And then their set pieces are good. So is this not a blueprint both the Boks and Sharks should look at??
@The hound (Comment 97) : I really dont know what we are going to be doing if Etzebeth doesnt get his grunt back, he will always be in the team but he looks jaded and not really interested. I wonder if he isnt struggling with an injury.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 99) : It’s called Spies syndrome, every since he returned from his extended layoff read detox, he’s become Pierre.
Not Thomas du Toit, not Nkosi, nor any other Shark within sight of Rassie’s Barbarians. This guy is cementing his ability to be unnecessary and annoy.
@The hound (Comment 100) : Aha, I hear you.
@SeanJeff (Comment 101) : Nkosi is injured
@SeanJeff (Comment 101) : I’d rather have the Sharks players get a rest than play in a stupid Barbarians game vs a team they have effectively played 4 games against over the year
@SeanJeff (Comment 101) : How does it happen that he (Rassie) coaches and selects barbarians? It would have made more sense that another non bok coach does this so we have a clear comparison or is he intentionally selected so he doesn’t get showed up?
@coolfusion (Comment 105) : Imagine John Dobson running the barbarians with asistants in Rob dup and Matfield or whatever combo.
@coolfusion (Comment 106) : Or Dobson Naas and insert name here just to show us what other combos could offer. Rassie can then have an outside perspective and maybe learn something?
My barbarians team Koch Akker or Burden Kitshof RG Snyman Mostert Marcell Coetzee Chris Cloete Duane Vermaak Papier Lambie esterhuizen Ward Nkosi Mapimpi or v Wyk and Gelant at 15 with Goosen covering 10 and 15 reserves Beast Akker Psdt F Venter etc
@coolfusion (Comment 108) : Meant to say vermeulen not Vermaak…who is Duane Vermaak?
@coolfusion (Comment 109) : Keep the overseas players maybe for wing scrumhalf flank?
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 95) : looking more like netball players than rugby players with those jumping around trying to intercept rather than tackle!!!
@SeanJeff (Comment 101) : @Bokhoring (Comment 104) : @coolfusion (Comment 105) : OK found it! WP Barbarians much like WP Bokke so will be skipping that match!!!
@JD (Comment 112) : Against France I think. Full squad on SS article
@coolfusion (Comment 113) : Basically the bok squad with about 5 foreign nationals
@coolfusion (Comment 113) : thanks found it and looks like they playing against Argentina and ja basically WP with 5 foreign players!
@coolfusion (Comment 106) : Nah, after the Currie Cup final it would have to be Dobson as assistant to Rob Dup snr.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 116) : 😆 😆 😆
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 116) : Hmm we could have been Curry Cup champs two years running if Rob was that far superior as it us we totally hashed an almost unbeaten season last year with what is basically the same team and WP handed us our asses this year we barely won same team same coach same opposition same stage if the contest. I think Dobson can feel overall he is ahead.
@coolfusion (Comment 118) : Methinks otherwise
yes WP won last year and handed us a walloping in the last 12 minutes this year but come final time one team took on board what had to be taken on board and won while the other team stagnated and wallowed in their previous success and false self belief. Make no mistake that final was won because of a tactical game plan that the Sharks implemented to blunt all of Provinces strong points = good coaching and a team that believed in themselves and bought into the coaches game plan. 
@coolfusion (Comment 118) : But in all seriousness I think Dobson is a damn fine coach and was touting him for the Bulls post, yes the final is a bit of a negative on his cv but Im sure he will still go far as a coach (if he is willing to move from Cpt which seems to be Flecks turf alone.)
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 119) : I think this year’s wp cc team was much better than last year’s so yes beating them does mark an upswing for the sharks but does that mean Rob’s coaching is better or that certain players are now settling better in positions. Of course I’m happy we are doing better but how accurate is Rob dup snr personal performance appraisal? Half a cc and a dismal SR (second in a row)
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 120) : @coolfusion (Comment 121) : All I know is neither of them could get their “star studded” teams to win a Super rugby trophy so basically arguing about who is worse rather than who is the best!
Let’s be honest winning Currie cup is always nice but the big one is still Super rugby!!!
@JD (Comment 122) : Agreed. Tell that to the lions as well.
@coolfusion (Comment 123) : yes for sure! Runner-up is the first loser! 😈
@coolfusion (Comment 121) : This years CC team was great sweeping away all before them, I never gave us a chance in the final, so while that shows me that WP were the bees knees the fact that we sorted them out so well in the final shows me that Rob Dup has at least something going for him an that Dobson too is not the complete package.
@JD (Comment 122) : Do you really think that this years Sharks team is “star studded” I dont in comparison with some of the other teams we have had. Basically all our coaches we have ever had (and probably will have) are then in the same category (to compete for the worst coach title) because they too have won just as much as what Dobson and DuPreez have.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 126) : Also did start to show some links in their armor with bulls game already so if it was a full cc who knows who would have emerged as leaders eventually?
@coolfusion (Comment 127) : Just glad we got it together when it counted most.
@coolfusion (Comment 127) : I forgot about that Bulls game – Bulls actually won that one but for……… Egon Seconds’ coming out of WP retirement. Actually that game showed that Pote Human also took on board what they learned from their earlier encounter and came with a plan.