Wales player ratings v Springboks: Defensive ‘bulldozer’ only bright spark on ‘woeful day’ for Warren Gatland’s men
Wales fell to their 12th defeat in 2024 to South Africa.
Following their 45-12 defeat to the Springboks, here are our Wales player ratings after an enthralling game at the Principality Stadium.
Wales player ratings
15 Blair Murray: A valiant effort in an unfamiliar position. Was caught out for Kurt-Lee Arendse’s try, but made up for it as he pulled off a spectacular try-saving tackle to deny Aphelele Fassi later on. 5
14 Josh Hathaway: Looked dangerous when given the ball, but was starved of any meaningful possession to make him a consistent threat. 4
13 Max Llewellyn: Just wasn’t his day in all honesty. Couldn’t get a foothold in the game as South Africa dominated play, and he was well-beaten by opposite number Jesse Kriel. 3
12 Ben Thomas: Can almost copy and paste the above in here. Wales’ lack of possession meant he was essentially a passenger in the first-half, and struggled to contain Damian de Allende too. 3
LIVE BLOG: Wales v Springboks as it happens with Warren Gatland’s men welcoming South Africa
11 Rio Dyer: Made a mark on his return to the side with a lovely try, but otherwise wasn’t really afforded much time on the ball to have his usual effect. 5
10 Sam Costelow: Couldn’t take his opportunity, unfortunately. To his credit, he did want to try things, but didn’t do it enough to have much of an effect on the game. He also spent a spell on the sidelines after a head knock, and was later taken off at half-time. 3
9 Ellis Bevan: Did his job well, without doing anything particularly flashy. 5
Back-row
8 Taine Plumtree: A bold call by Gatland to bring him in for Aaron Wainwright, but he just disappointed in all honesty. Struggled to match the impact of Jasper Wiese. 4
7 Jac Morgan: Was a standout performer in the heavy Wallabies defeat last weekend, and just carried on from where he left off. He fronted up well in defence under immense pressure from the Boks, and led the effort with a whopping 28 tackles. 6
6 James Botham: Clearly retained his spot to add some beef to the back-row, and he did just that, and did it well. Was a proper bulldozer in defence, produced a couple of nice turnovers and overall just put his body on the line. Grabbed a well-deserved try at the death. 7
Tight five
5 Christ Tshuinza: Got heavily involved in the defensive efforts in the first-half, and made a nuisance of himself in the breakdown too. 5
4 Will Rowlands: Worked very hard, as always, and just did what he needed to around the paddock. 5
3 Archie Griffin: Just a woeful day at the office for the young tighthead. Bath clubmate Thomas du Toit had his number in virtually every scrum, and he was hooked after 35 minutes. 2
2 Dewi Lake: Mixed bag from the usually stellar captain. Was super physical around the park, but lacked his usual solidity at the set-piece and that let South Africa run riot. 5
1 Nicky Smith: Was well beaten by both Wilco Louw and Vincent Koch in the scrum, but made some mammoth tackles – namely bashing Eben Etzebeth in the first-half. 3
Replacements: A tough one to summarise; they didn’t do anything wrong, but didn’t do anything right either. Things didn’t really improve at the scrum with the introduction of Keiron Assiratti, Ryan Elias and Kemsley Mathias, but they also didn’t get worse. Freddie Thomas was energetic on debut and Tommy Reffell was fine on his introduction, but they couldn’t really halt the Springboks momentum. In the backline, Rhodri Williams, Eddie James and Owen Watkin were also fine, but again just couldn’t add any serious impact to the game. But yet, they showed some character and desire to play for the jersey, which is a positive. 5
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