The baiting started early in Durban yesterday hours before kick-off.
A Welsh runner turned up to take part in the equivalent of a Parkrun event and when his nationality was unveiled, he was greeted with some friendly advice from one of the South African competitors.
“We are going to smash you tonight”. Or phrasing to that effect. The South Africans were true to their word.
The Springboks match-day bus pulled up before the game with the squad given a rousing ovation from the home fans who dragged themselves away from their traditional braai’s in the car parks surrounding Kings Park.
Then a second bus turned up. Off came the non-match day squad including Cheslin Kolbe, Handre Pollard, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager and Evan Roos, among others.
An example of the gulf between South Africa and Wales as the number one team on the planet hammered the side 11 places below them in the world rankings.
In 2022, Wales won a Test match in Bloemfontein. Four years on, that was never going to be repeated in this one-sided contest. In truth, it was never a contest.
The bookmakers gave Tandy’s men a 42-point head start in the handicap before kick-off, proving to be an accurate prediction.
The tourists showed fight and spirit, but it was only Springboks’ inaccuracy that kept the score down in testing humid conditions.
At least Wales conceded 30 fewer points and four less tries than the 73-0 loss to South Africa in Cardiff in November 2025.
But they still failed to score a point for the second successive time in this fixture with the aggregate score standing at 116-0 over the 160 minutes.
“I feel flatter after that than the 73-0 loss,” former Wales hooker Scott Baldwin told BBC Radio Wales.
“We had everyone available, bar three players, and South Africa didn’t have as strong a team as they did at the Principality Stadium.
“There were so many opportunities for South Africa, they weren’t clinical enough to finish them.
“Several of those Welsh players went to South Africa four years ago and won a Test match. We look like we have gone backwards over the past two games.”
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