Springboks crush Wales 43-0 to stay unbeaten in Nations Championship

South Africa put Wales down 43-0 at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday, going three for three in Nations Championship rugby: seven tries from seven different scorers, even though the Springboks struggled to reflect their utter domination on the scoreboard and ought to have doubled their tally.

A team of 10 changes with four debutants, following the 42-28 win over Scotland, was slick at times but frequently undone by knock-ons on a slippery ball. Yet the Springboks still blanked Wales in successive matches for the first time since the first two games in this rivalry, in 1906 and 1912.

Wales have not scored a point against the world champion Springboks in more than two and a half hours of rugby. "I think we've got a little bit better in every game of the Nations Championship but as we've been rotating it does take cohesion away," coach Rassie Erasmus said. "The field is really slippery... It was tough to play an expansive, pretty game in conditions like that against a team that really wanted to defend."

No. 8 Jasper Wiese blew through Jac Morgan and Rhys Carre for the opening try in the fifth minute, and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach crossed after a dominant scrum. New flyhalf Vusi Moyo, 20, and wing Jaco Williams impressed on their test debuts: Moyo's kick-pass set up Jesse Kriel's try for a 19-0 halftime lead. Williams scored 44 seconds into the second half and then returned passes with Herschel Jantjies, giving the replacement scrumhalf a try in his first test since 2023. Winger Kurt-Lee Arendse and flanker Paul de Villiers, man of the match in his third cap, completed the scoring.

"We're not happy with the nil on the scoreboard, we're not happy with losing," Wales captain Dewi Lake told ITV. "There's a lot for us to improve on but we've had growth."

Sources

• AP News