Considering the way both sides are playing, a scoreless draw does not seem altogether inconceivable when Wales host South Africa on Saturday. But assuming the trench warfare eventually relents, Rob Howley’s team will find themselves with a scarcely deserved opportunity to stumble into the record books.
No Welsh side has ever managed three wins from their autumn internationals in Cardiff and after Sam Davies’s last-gasp drop goal spared their blushes against Japan, the defence coach, Shaun Edwards, was quick to drum that into his players.
The highlights of their autumn so far would not make for comfortable viewing – shredded by Australia before squeezing past Argentina and Japan but lacking in confidence, composure and any real attacking intent. Comparatively, Japan mesmerised with handling skills that took the breath away – their back three of Kotaro Matsushima, Akihito Yamada and Kenki Fukuoka were quite wonderful. And but for one missed penalty from the otherwise excellent Yu Tamura at fly‑half, another giant-killing beckoned on British soil.
“We’re licking our wounds to be honest, we were too loose at times and we got punished,” said Dan Lydiate, who scored his first try in 62 international Tests. “If we do that next week it’s not going to be a pretty scoreline so we’ll look at the video and hopefully tighten things up.”
South Africa recovered from defeat by Japan to finish third at the World Cup – edging out Wales in the quarter-final – but 12 months before that, Wales claimed a largely forgettable 12-6 win in a rare victory against one of the southern hemisphere’s big three. And it appears the Springboks, wounded by a first defeat by Italy on Saturday and facing a first winless autumn tour of Europe since 2002, will again determine what note Wales finish the year on.
“They’ll certainly be wanting to finish their autumn internationals on a high and there will certainly be a backlash coming,” Lydiate added. “Hopefully we can up our game from this week; we need to step up.
“They are one of the most physical teams in world rugby and if you don’t stop them it’s going to be a tough day at the office and a high scoreline. It’s going to be a tough challenge. They’re not a poor team by any means. In recent years we’ve come short, in 2014 we got a win over them but if we can the win over them next week, three out of four is not too bad for an autumn series.”
Despite falling behind 6-0 and losing Liam Williams to the sin-bin inside the first 10 minutes, Wales’s response suggested a tough afternoon for Japan. The home side had dominance up front but while Jamie Roberts followed Lydiate over in the first half, Wales could not turn the screw.
As was the case against Argentina, whenever Wales put points on the board – Sam Warburton was next over the try line – Japan hit back almost immediately, eventually levelling at 30-30 before Davies’s intervention.
Howley will make changes for South Africa and Taulupe Faletau comes into contention after playing the best part of an hour for Bath on Friday while Dan Biggar and George North will surely return for Gareth Anscombe and Alex Cuthbert. Warburton is expecting the Springboks to bring “the kitchen sink” but Wales, lambasted by the England coach Eddie Jones for their performance against his former side, are under equal amounts of pressure. “South Africa are coming back here and the last time they played here was a loss and that will give players confidence,” Howley said. “We’ve won two from three and [it comes down to] next week’s performance – it’s either a really good autumn series or we’ve come up short and that focuses the mind for next week’s performance.”
Wales L Williams; Halfpenny, J Davies, Roberts, Cuthbert; Anscombe (S Davies, 66), Lloyd Williams (G Davies, 51); Smith (Gill, 66), Baldwin, Lee (Andrews, 66), Hill (Ball, 62), Jones, Lydiate, Warburton (capt), King.
Tries Lydiate, Roberts, Warburton. Cons Halfpenny 3. Pens Halfpenny 3. Drop goal S Davies. Sin-bin Liam Williams 8.
Japan Matsushima; Yamada (Lotoahea, 68), Lafaele, Tatekawa (co-capt), Fukuoka; Tamura, Tanaka (Uchida, 76); Nakatani (Yamamoto, 52), Horie (co-capt; Hino, 61), Hatakeyama (Ito, 52), Kajikawa, Anise (Helu, 52), Ilaua (Mimura, 68), Nunomaki (Matsuhashi, 61), Mafi.
Tries Yamada, Fukuoka, Lotoahea. Cons Lafaele, Tamura 2. Pens Tamura 3.
Referee M van der Westhuizen (SA). Attendance 73,969.
