Wales 12-45 South Africa
By David Nicholson
at the Millennium Stadium

WORLD champions South Africa continued Welsh misery as they outclassed and over-powered the home side on Saturday.

The all-conquering Springboks have completed a clean sweep, winning all their autumn internationals after winning the Rugby Championship during the summer.

Wales losing streak has now extended to 12 losses in a row after defeat in all games played in 2024, the first time since 1937 that they have lost all their matches in a calendar year.

The question on the lips of home fans was not whether Wales would lose but by how many points.

The visitors opened the floodgates with a try after six minutes as second-row Franco Mostert tracked flying wing Cheslin Kolbe and finished off the move.

Two minutes later some nice interplay by giant forward Eben Etzebeth and winger Kurt-Lee Arendse saw the second-rower score.

Embattled Wales then saw fly-half Sam Costelow trudge from the field for a head injury assessment.

The Springboks were breaking the gainline at will and dominating the set piece.

The visitors scored seven tries and could have had three more, but for desperate Welsh defending twice holding up marauding Springboks on the try line.

South Africa skipper Siya Kolisi had a fine try disallowed after the video ref spotted a knock-on in approach play by scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse.

Wales managed to get on the scoresheet just before the half-tine whistle as the home side frantically sought a score and winger Rio Dyer obliged on his first appearance of the autumn campaign.

Wales looked off the pace and underpowered as their forwards were outmuscled by the visitors.

Head coach Warren Gatland said he remains “motivated” for his job as head coach despite presiding over his side’s 12th successive Test match defeat.

“It was a tough game, but I cannot question how hard our players tried out there – I thought they gave absolutely everything,” Gatland said.

South Africa had more caps on their replacements bench than Wales had in their match-day squad of 23.

Cardiff forward James Botham was the best Welsh player on display and managed to score his side’s second try as the clock went red at the end of the game.

Botham and Jac Morgan made 50 tackles between them but their team missed 46 out of 216 tackles, which is not good enough at this level.

Gatland was welcomed back as coach but now has a record of losing 18 of 24 Tests since returning for a second stint in charge.

The Welsh Rugby Union now has a difficult decision to make as speculation swirls around the head coach’s future.

The WRU will hold a review of the autumn internationals but the big question is would a change of coach change anything.

Whoever is in charge for the Six Nations will have a mountain to climb with a daunting opening game against France in Paris on January 31.

In a tough post-match press conference Gatland said: “Look, I am motivated to want to be here.

“For a long time, there have been issues within the game. The success we’ve had in the past has probably papered over some of those cracks.

“What I saw today from this group of young men and players, it gave me a lot of positive hope that there is an opportunity for us to improve and get better for the Six Nations in terms of the learnings from this campaign.”