Boks punish Wales

[tragic]

Or baste?

Well, a chook should know...

sorry...

[zimeric]

another dominant weekend bby the southern hemisphere teams even though theyve had to play outdated rules... cmon you Northerners give us some real competition for a change!!!

[lara93]

love rugby!
GO BOKS!!!

[tdevil]

I think the score is not a reflection on the game. Boks took 30odd min to score the first try, 15 of their points came from penalties, and Wales scored twice against them (doesn't say much about their defence).
Everyone expected the Boks to win, but Wales made it look easy with all the penalties they conceded
That's just my opinion, but I don't think you can judge the strength of the Boks on that performance

[zimeric]

i think you can.
1) they have a more than decent place kicker.
2) they dominated every scrum - hence most of the penalties
3) their back line play was conservative but still managed 3 tries through it

Their only weakness being dodgy defence at around the 40-60 min mark.
they will have to tighten this up against the wallabies who will punish slack defending. Something the AB's seem to have a problem with as well going from their game against the irish, the ease at which Paddie scored that one try musta sent alarm bells ringing in the AB''s coaching ranks!

[pieter blackie]

here is some of the articles headlines from around the globe


- Pretoria News"

I was so amazed with this being my first game and John's50th (as captain), I think what we got right is the fact that we made a bunch of talented individuals and we moulded them into one team.I thought it would take longer for the team to gel. If a team can capitalise on what they see and build their own plans on the field, that is exactly what we are striving for."
- Peter de Villiers is delighted with how quickly the Boks gelled.

- Sunday Times (UK)

"You would have to say that, of the two teams, South Africa were the more disadvantaged ... and yet they dismantled the Six Nations champions. I don't think anybody expected them [Wales] to be walloped by a 26-point margin. If that is the real difference in ability between the world champions and the Six Nations champions, then northern hemisphere rugby – and Wales in particular – needs to have a good look in the mirror. Next week will be the biggest test Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards have faced in their brief time in charge, and they will be smarting after a disappointing result."
- Jeremy Guscott isn't too impressed by the Wales performance in Bloemfontein.

- The Guardian

"Quite frankly, we were pretty embarrassed by that performance. Our handling was poor, as was our discipline in terms of the number of penalties we gave away... 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,"
- Wales coach Warren Gatland with some frank remarks on the 43-17 defeat

- This is South Wales

"Unfortunately, after this siege on the high veldt there was to be no feelgood ending for the men in red. In fact, for long periods, most of the shooting had been downwards towards their own feet. A stat of 18 turnovers tells its own tale."
- The Welsh papers were equally critical of the Wales display with Robert Lloyd tearing into the performance.

- John Smit looks ahead to the second Test

"We knew Wales would be a tough challenge. They came here with a lot of confidence and their talk in the week of their physical approach certainly motivated us to be ready, which I am pretty grateful for. We have a lot to work on and I am sure Wales will also be better prepared in Pretoria next week."