The Springboks, having named a new-look side with five new caps, were completely overpowered by their visitors in the opening half an hour of play. Captained by Colin Charvis, Wales totally dominated the opening 30 minutes, knocking the Springboks out of their stride upfront with a marvellous opening quarter.
Wales notched a try after just seven minutes at the Free State Stadium through winger Craig Morgan’s, to the surprise of the 34,000 strong crowd. The forwards moved the ball through ten phases of play in the build up to the superb score, and the Cardiff wing could have had a hat-trick in the opening sixteen minutes but for a few unkind bounces.
The match simply got better and better for Steve Hansen’s well-organised Welsh side as fly half Stephen Jones kicked a penalty to make it 8-0 and then replied instantly to Andre Pretorius’s penalty with a drop goal.
New Springbok Coach Rudi Straueli’s side were in desperate need of a spark to get them going, and it was finally provided by Western Stormers’ scrum half Johannes Conradie, who took it upon himself to change the fortunes of the home side.
It was his quickly taken penalty in the Welsh 22 that created enough havoc in the until-then solid defence to allow Marius Joubert to power past fullback Kevin Morgan for a vital try. (He did same after the break to create a penalty try and enjoyed the sort of debut that gave credence to his new status as the pin-up boy of South African rugby.)
The Springboks’ opening try brought a sense of relief to the home crowd, but this relief turned into jubiliation as South African captain Bobby Skinstad made it two tries in seven minutes at the end of the first half to give his side a lead they were never to lose.
After their initial uncertainity in the first half the Springboks settled in the second half and consequently produced three more tries. Stephen Jones reduced the gap to a single point with a 44th minute penalty to take the scores to 14-13, but the introduction of Brent Russell at outside half made a huge difference to the Suth African back line movement.
Giant lock Victor Matfield touched down from a line-out drive soon after and then the penalty try was awarded against Jones for an early tackle on Breyton Paulse as they chased Conradie’s neat kick ahead.
The contest appeared over for the visiting side in the first of the two Test series. However, captain Charvis rallied his troops and helped Rhys Williams to score in the corner as he linked with Robin McBryde to create an overlap.
There may have been a fifth Boks try through replacement prop Faan Rautenbach at the death, but there was enough fire in the Welsh side to keep interest alive in the following weekend’s second Test in Cape Town.
In fact, it was the home side that were defending desperately in the closing moments as first Kevin Morgan was hauled down at the left corner and then Charvis crossed the line from a maul only to be brought back for running into Iestyn Thomas in his attempt.
Despite slipping to defeat after a dream start against South Africa,Wales had given their hosts a surprise at Bloemfontein. Prior to the match Wales Coach Hansen had commented that he wanted his side to play “with pride and passion and to have played well and to the top of their ability”, and they had shown not only this but also some improvement from the disappointing RBS Six Nations season early in the year.
Hansen had blooded five new caps, but none of them shone brighter than the man who became Wales’s 1,000th international, Michael Owen. The only new cap in the starting line-up, the Pontypridd back rower made a dream debut as he provided Wales with a great tail-of-the-line option at the line-out, drove well in the loose and tackled with venom.
Hansen praised, “Michael has a big future. He gives us a great option at the line-out and he doesn’t make many mistakes. I also thought that Dwayne Peel was outstanding at scrum half, he made a real statement on his first full outing.”
