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South Africa vs Wales 2nd Test Preview

Written by @QuintenLetcher for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter and Facebook now!


South Africa vs Wales | Saturday 21 June | Nelspruit | 15:00

The Springboks made light work of the Red Dragons in the first of the two-Test series between the nations, handing out a five-try backhand in Durban last week to secure a healthy 22-point victory. The hosts were ruthless in their first half blitzkrieg, led by firecracker fullback Willie le Roux who put pacemaker Bryan Habana through for two tries before deciding to pick one up for himself. The sides broke for oranges with the scoreboard painting a bleak picture for the tourists, trailing 28-9. Things tamed down considerably in the second half, but debutant Cornal Hendricks crashed over the whitewash to crush any remaining hope of a fight back. The Welsh eventually managed to snatch a consolation try through an incredible solo effort from Cardiff Blues speedster Alex Cuthbert. The action moves to the considerably less picturesque city of Nelspruit, as Warren Gatland’s beleaguered Welsh battalion attempts to end their poor run of fifteen consecutive defeats to the Springboks by levelling the series before returning home.

To Win (80mins)
South Africa 1/12
Wales 7/1
Draw 30/1

Handicaps
South Africa (-17.5) 9/10
Wales (+17.5) 9/10

South Africa
Senior citizen Victor Matfield will become the most capped Springbok ever when he leads South Africa out at Mbombela Stadium this Saturday. Unfortunately his return to the Test arena showed a considerable decrease in mobility for the once revered second-rower, made even more conspicuous by the remarkably high-paced performance of fellow semi-retired lock Bakkies Botha. Unfortunately, the Toulon enforcer had to cut his return to Test rugby short after aggravating an old injury just before the break, fast tracking Lood de Jager’s Springbok debut. This week the absence of Bakkies has been effectively negated by the return of the Bulls’ bruiser Flip van der Merwe, who skipped on his national duty to attend his brother’s poorly timed wedding last week. In the front row, we see the anticipated return of Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira to the starting XV in place of Guthro Steenkamp, who drops back to his more suited spot on the bench in the only other change to the run on side.

Wales
With Warren Gatland still deciding how best to deal with his side’s lacklustre performance in Durban last week it is difficult to predict who will take to the field in Nelspruit, but a few dismissals from the run on side seem more certain than others. Lions scrumhalf Mike Phillips is one of the heads that should probably roll this week, making way for the in-form Scarlets number nine Gareth Davies. Front row geriatric Adam Jones is another Lions star that should be given notice, hopefully to be replaced by the young Samson Lee, who took over from Jones before the end of the first half in Durban. In the second row, it would be no real surprise to see Luke Charteris dropped to bench to make way for the inclusion of South African born Ian Evans in a renewal of his Ospreys lock partnership with captain Alun Wyn Jones.

VERDICT: South Africa (-17.5) 9/10
The Welsh will undoubtedly be looking to a far more competitive performance this week after last weekend’s poor showing, but when the bulk of your underperforming players also form part of the team’s senior core, things are inevitably going to get worse before they get better. It would seem Warren Gatland and his coaching staff find themselves in a real pickle as they approach their final Test of the season, but after hearing assistant coach Shaun Edwards’ answer on how to stop Willie le Roux – “I was thinking of locking him in the toilet before the game” – at least we know that they haven’t lost their sense of humour. It will come in handy this week as I’m expecting this game to present a similar Springbok dominance to last week.

Think we’ve got it wrong? Well leave your comments below and tell us how you think this is going to play out.

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