South Africa 43 Wales 17:SOUTH AFRICA'S drubbing of the Six Nations champions here on Saturday was a humiliating experience for the Wales coach, Warren Gatland. "Quite frankly, we were pretty embarrassed by that performance," he said. "Our handling was poor, as was our discipline in terms of the number of penalties we gave away."
The defeat was Gatland's first as Wales coach. "I don't like losing too much, but no excuses for our performance - they thoroughly deserved to win the game and we were well beaten and dominated by a bigger side," he said.
Wales were mediocre and they struggled to match the brute force of the Springboks at the breakdown. "We spoke about coming here and competing physically with these guys and we didn't do that," said Gatland.
With the veteran Gethin Jenkins packing down at loosehead prop against the Springbok debutant Brian Mujati, Wales scrummaged well in the first half. But a string of unforced errors and an inability to find consistency at the lineout will be of concern to the Welsh.
The Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, was satisfied with the victory on his debut.
"It wasn't easy, but I'm definitely happy with the win," he said.
The home outhalf Butch James put on a flawless display of kicking with five penalties and four conversions, while John Smit earned a record 50th cap as Springbok captain, though he downplayed this victory, saying: "We need to keep perspective - this is one game of 14 this year and there's a lot to work on."
Gatland expects his team to rise to the challenge for the second Test, in Pretoria: "We can throw the towel in and walk away, or we can accept the challenge by coming back and working hard. I think we will respond."
This result means Wales are still yet to defeat the Springboks in South Africa and they will have to try again next weekend without the hooker Matthew Rees, who was sent home yesterday after suffering a calf muscle strain on Saturday.
SOUTH AFRICA: Jantjes; Chavhanga, Jacobs (Montgomery, 62), De Villiers, Habana; James (Grant, 74), Conradie (Pienaar, 57); Steenkamp, Smit (capt; Du Plessis, 57), Mujati (Van der Linde, 46); Botha, Bekker (Matfield, 46); Watson, J Smith (Rossouw, 74), Spies. Sinbinned: Van der Linde, 74. Tries: Jantjes, De Villiers, Spies, Montgomery. Cons: James 4. Pens: James 5.
WALES: Roberts (Stoddart, 54); M Jones, Shanklin, Parker, Williams; S Jones (Hook, 54), Cooper (Fury, 62); Jenkins, Rees (Hibbard, 54), A Jones (Duncan Jones, 54); Gough (Evans, 68), AW Jones; Thomas, Dafydd Jones (Delve, 58), R Jones (capt). Sinbinned: Hibbard 74. Tries: Roberts, S Williams. Cons: S Jones, Hook. Pen: S Jones.
Referee: David Pearson (England)
