Fullback Willie le Roux created three tries and scored another as South Africa crushed Wales 38-16 at Kings Park on Saturday in their first rugby Test of two.
Le Roux was the chief architect in a dominant first-half display from the Springboks, who ran in four unanswered tries to put the game to bed by the break.
Bryan Habana extended his tryscoring record for South Africa to 55 with a brace — both of them set up by Le Roux — while Duane Vermeulen also got on the score sheet in the first period.
Photo: EPA
Wing Cornal Hendricks’ try on debut amplified the rout as the hosts opened up a 29-point advantage after halftime, before Alex Cuthbert’s superb solo try provided some small consolation for Wales.
South Africa’s long injury list and disruptive buildup to the match, which saw Francois Steyn walk away from the Springbok setup due to a financial dispute, seemingly presented Wales with an opportunity to challenge.
However, while the tourists made the better start and scored the first points through Dan Biggar’s dropped goal, Le Roux put South Africa on the front foot in the seventh minute when he stepped inside a defender and kicked ahead for Habana to dot down.
From that point on, the gap in class kept on widening, with Le Roux imperious in the air and flyhalf Morne Steyn immaculate with the boot as his territorial kicking kept the Welsh pinned inside their own half.
“It was a tough week with a lot of disruptions,” Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer said. “I asked the guys to put their bodies on the line as it was important for us to start well, and I was very pleased with their response and effort, especially in the first half.”
The tourists certainly did not help themselves with a string of errors and generally struggled to deal with the Springboks’ physicality.
After midfielder Jamie Roberts was sent to the sin bin in the 13th minute for taking Le Roux in the air, Vermeulen crashed over from close range and Le Roux opened up the Welsh defense to set up Habana’s second try.
Man-of-the-match Le Roux followed up with a brilliant chip-and-gather to give South Africa a 28-9 lead at the break that Wales never looked likely to overthrow, before sending Hendricks to the tryline 12 minutes into the second half.
“Willie is probably the best fullback in the world at the moment — he is playing with a lot of confidence and has a licence to express himself,” Meyer said.
Cuthbert provided some cheer for the traveling fans with 11 minutes remaining when he parted the South African defense and ran 75m to score, but even that could not put Wales within sniffing distance.
IRELAND V ARGENTINA
Reuters
Ireland won a Test series in Argentina for the first time on Saturday as the Six Nations champions came from a try behind for the second successive week to prevail with a scrappy 23-17 victory in Tucuman.
The tourists, who lost a one-off Test in Buenos Aires in 2000 and a two-game series seven years later, fell behind to a breakaway Joaquin Tuculet try before the boot of Johnny Sexton, and finishing of Simon Zebo and Ian Madigan, saw them home.
Argentina have won only once in 11 games, a narrow victory over Italy in November.
SCOTLAND V CANADA
AP, TORONTO
Scotland defeated Canada 19-17 for the first time on Canadian soil on Saturday to sweep the North American leg of their rugby tour.
The lead swapped six times at BMO Field, the last when Greig Laidlaw nailed his third penalty with nine minutes to go in what turned into a dull kickathon.
Laidlaw and fullback Stuart Hogg converted five out of five goalkicks for Scotland, while James Pritchard and Harry Jones converted four out of six kicks for Canada.
Canada scored the first try in the 22nd minute, a Ciaran Hearn break finished by winger Jeff Hassler, but five minutes later Scotland also scored their only try when lock Grant Gilchrist muscled over.
The boot dominated the rest of the match, with Scotland completing a second win from two matches on their world tour following a 24-6 win over the US in Houston.
Scotland are to play Argentina next, then the Springboks.
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