Nelspruit has gone – Howley

Editor

Wales assistant coach Rob Howley rubbished claims their clash with South Africa will be a revenge mission for what happened in June.

Wales assistant coach Rob Howley has rubbished claims Saturday’s clash with South Africa will be a revenge mission for his men after what happened in June.

Five months ago Howley watched as his side fell to a 31-30 tour loss to the Springboks in Nelspruit, despite being 0-17 up at one stage in the fixture.

That game also saw Wales leading 17-30 before South Africa struck late on. However, Howley is eager not to dig up the past in training this week.

“Our cup is always half-full and I don’t want to use the word revenge,” he told Wales Online.

“This is another Test match. That Test match has gone and we always look forward.

“We will learn from the weekend against New Zealand and try to implement a strategy against South Africa.

“They are still a world-class side who are very physical. So we are expecting no different to what we had out in South Africa during the summer.”

Wales are sweating over a number of players this weekend while Paul James, Richard Hibbard and James Hook have returned to their Aviva Premiership clubs so will miss out on what could well be a dress rehearsal for the Rugby World Cup quarter-final next year.

“For the players and coaches involved for this Saturday, this is possibly what might happen in the World Cup, where we’ve lost a game and now we are playing South Africa in the quarter-final,” added Howley.

“That is our motivation in terms of trying to put a script to it. It is important we front up on the weekend because this could be exactly the situation next year.”