First half wins it for SA Schools
By half-time at Outeniqua Park in George SA Schools were leading Wales Under-18 26-3 and at the final whistle won 40-15 after a dreary second half.
The South Africans were much sharper than the Welsh who really bumbled along, scoring two tries late in the second half from five-metre line-outs after penalties for high tackles. Otherwise the Welsh did not really look like scoring as they could not find their way through the numbers the South Africans always seemed to have in defence.
In the first half the Welsh got precious little of the ball and so there was no real possibility of attack.
The South African centres, Heino Bezuidenhout and JT Jackson, were both impressive and the boot of flyhalf Thinus de Beer unerring. Looking like the young Naas Botha he rather spoilt an excellent performance when yellowcarded for a late tackle, which probably did not happen to Botha in his great career.
South Africa kicked off and Wales knocked on. South Africa attacked from the scrum and prop burst through. Held he popped the ball to lock Ashton Fortuin who swept over under the posts. The referee referred to the TMO as he did four times at tries and awarded the try. 7-0 after one minute.
Wales kicked off and dispossessed South Africa. Wales lost the ball and South Africa kicked through but were guilty of playing a Welsh player who did not have the ball and Dan Jones goaled from near the half-way line. 7-3 after three minutes.
De Beer goaled and then Andell Loubser had a speedy run before rolling the ball infield to Heino Bezuidenhout who raced through for the try. The referee who had was right on the spot when Loubsher rolled the ball infield and put out hands to show that there was no problem then had the TMO look at it and he, too, found no problem. 17-3 after 10 minutes.
De Beer than goaled three penalties to take the score to 26-3.
At South African line-outs, the Welsh adopted the tactic of standing off to get a penalty for obstruction but early in the second half this came back to bite them. Tall Eduard Zandberg, South Africa's main source of line-out possession, caught the ball and then turned and raced half the length of the field. He was tackled but nippy Ambrose Papier darted over for the try,. 33-3 after 40 minutes after the TMO confirmed that there was not a problem.
The referee was playing advantage for a high tackle. Barend Smit made a short break from fullback and gave to Bezuidenhout who sent Jackson racing away for a try. 40-3 after 47 minutes.
This ended the scoring for SA Schools.
The South African schools side did get over the line again but the referee referred the matter to the TMO who found a remote obstruction on the half-way line and so the South Africans were penalised.
South Africa were penalised for a high tackle which seemed not to go over the shoulders. The Welsh bashed and bashed from the five-metre line-out but then went wide left where Owen Watkin, the best of their backs, scored under the posts. 40-10 with six minutes to play.
A penalty on time gave the Welsh another five-metre line-out. They bashed and then went right, then left and big flank Josh Middleton forced his way over. The conversion was missed and the final whistle went.
England are the next oppoeents for SA Schools. They destroyed the Welsh scrum on Friday but Wales had the better of the SA Schools scrum in this match.
Scorers:
For South Africa:
Tries: Ashton Fortuin,. Heino Bezuidenhout, Ambrose Papier, JT Jackson
Cons: Thinus de Beer 4
Pens: Thinus de Beer 4
For Wales:
Tries: Owen Watkin, Josh Middleton
'Con: Dan Jones
Pen: Dan Jones
Teams
Wales Under-18: 15 Morgan Williams, 14 Shaun Pearce, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 James Whittingham, 11 Elis-Wyn Benham, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Michael Hale, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Josh Middleton, 6 Tom Phillips (captain), 5 Seb Davies, 4 Matthew Dodd, 3 Kieran Assirratti, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Keegan Bale.
Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Harrison Walsh, 18 Rupert Lewis, 19 Jon Fox, 20 Shaun Evans, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Joe Gage, 23 Jordan Roberts
SA Schools: 15 Barend Smit (captain), 14 Andell Loubser, 13 Heino Bezuidenhout, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Keanu Vers, 10 Thinus de Beer, 9 Ambrose Papier, 8 Edmund Rheeder, 7 Kobus Wiese, 6 Arnold Gerber, 5 Eduard Zandberg, 4 Ashton Fortuin, 3 Sarel-Marco Smit, 2 Le Roux Baard, 1 Lupumlo Mguca
Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Ngonidzashe Chidoma, 18 Ignatius Prinsloo, 19 Junior Sipato, 20 Victor Maruping, 21 Marko Janse van Vuuren, 22 Curwin Bosch, 23 Nazo Nkala
Referee: Jamie Leahy (England)
*In earlier matches, England beat France 23-6 and Italy overcame SWD Schools XV 38-21.