VIDEO: Gatland's Wales to take Boks to the 'gutters' again?
SPOTLIGHT: The Springboks are bracing themselves for another tricky encounter against Wales when they meet in a World Cup warm-up match in Cardiff on Saturday.
The Boks have certainly found life against the Welsh over the years, especially when Warren Gatland is in charge of the team.
Before the Wayne Pivac era, the Boks only won one of their last five encounters against Gatland’s Wales and that was the 2019 World Cup semifinal in Yokohama.
The most recent meetings between the Boks and Wales was last year’s three-Test series in South Africa when Pivac was in charge of the team. The Boks clinched the series 2-1 with a win in Cape Town after the Welsh made history with a 13-12 win in Bloemfontein in the second Test.
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“If you look at the last four or five matches we played in Wales I think they beat us four times, which they will use as a motivation,” said Bok assistant coach Daan Human.
“It is really an arm-wrestle against them.
“In the World Cup semifinal, we only got it right in the last four minutes when we got a penalty and beat them 19-16.
Human added: “They are well coached, they can take you to the gutters, and they come off a tough training camp, so we need to perform well if we want the result.”
Wales have shown some encouraging signs ahead of the World Cup with a 20-9 win over England in Cardiff and a narrow 17-19 defeat to the same opponents at Twickenham this past weekend.
“They were a different team to what everyone was expecting,” said Bok lock Jean Kleyn.
“If you look at how they performed in the URC [United Rugby Championship], I don’t think anyone was rating them. But the big thing about Wales is they have all these individual players at different clubs and when you bring them together under a guy like Warren Gatland, that’s a recipe for a really good national side.
“Wales have always been good and competitive at international level and looking at those last two games, I would say they have two very good results.
“They got a good win at home and a narrow loss away from home. They are a very threatening side and we will be looking to put in a good performance this weekend.”
Human agreed with Kleyn’s view on the current Welsh team.
“We were impressed by the whole team’s performance,” Human added.
“They had a good result last week and maybe this week as well.
“A team that is coached by Warren Gatland is always very tough to play and they are always well prepared.”
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