Wales debutant hails ‘good guy’ Faf de Klerk for kind words and gesture after Springboks loss

Wales scrum-half Ellis Bevan is determined to build on a strong debut against the Springboks when he faces off with the Wallabies in their opening Test in Sydney.

The 24-year-old, who has catapulted up the ranks in his country in recent weeks, was handed a surprise start against South Africa and gave a decent account of himself.

He went toe to toe with two-time Rugby World Cup winner Faf de Klerk and Bevan revealed the Springbok stalwart was full of praise for him after the Twickenham loss.

Photo with De Klerk

“It was something I was really looking forward to and wanted to embrace, coming up against a double World Cup winner on my debut,” the Cardiff scrum-half said.

“If I wanted to get to where he is, I have to come up against the best.

“He told me that I had a good game and said to keep going. He was kind enough to give me his shirt, and we had a photo in the changing room. He’s a good guy on and off the field.”

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The Solihull-born and Dorset-schooled scrum-half is eligible for Wales due to his father and he insists there was only ever one country he wanted to play Test rugby for.

“It has always been Wales,” he stressed.

“It is not something that has been a question for me. I know I am true to myself when I say that.”

Bevan will be hoping to lock down the number nine jersey ahead of Kieran Hardy and Gareth Davies and it is clear that head coach Warren Gatland’s sees his potential.

“There are three of us in the squad (in Australia), and the other two guys are quality scrum-halves,” he continued.

“If I can have a career half as good as Gareth and Kieran have had, then I will be doing all right.”

Gatland’s men will be desperate to end their winless drought on Australian soil on this mid-year tour after going down 11 times in a row to the Wallabies Down Under.

After facing Joe Schmidt’s charges in Sydney this coming weekend they will take on the Wallabies in Melbourne on July 13 before facing the Reds on Friday, July 19.

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