South Africa showed Scotland what they can expect to come up against at Murrayfield next Sunday with a hugely impressive display of power and clinical finishing in Cardiff.
Wales again fell short in their attempt to claim a southern hemisphere scalp - but only after an heroic display in a ferocious Test match of brutal intensity.
The reigning RBS 6 Nations champions lost four players with injuries during an unforgiving first half - Liam Williams (head), Jonathan Davies (shoulder), Adam Jones (calf) and Scott Andrews (neck) - yet they did not fold.
Five Leigh Halfpenny penalties kept Warren Gatland's men in the contest, but early Springboks tries by skipper Jean de Villiers and hooker Bismarck du Plessis made the difference, while fly-half Morne Steyn - he was another early injury victim - converted both touchdowns and booted a penalty before going off.
The clinching try came 15 minutes from time, scored by scrum-half Fourie du Preez when he capitalised on defensive hesitancy between Halfpenny and Rhys Priestland, and full-back Pat Lambie's conversion finished Wales off.
Asked what he felt after the defeat, Wales captain Sam Warburton, said: "A massive amount of frustration. We had genuine belief we could have won this weekend but it wasn't to be. It seems against these top sides you make one mistake and pay the price. South Africa finished their chances when they had to."
De Villiers acknowledged that Wales had plenty of the game but said: "It's important what you do with that possession and we were probably more clinical. We are happy with the win but there is hard work before next week's game."
Wales made a blistering start as Halfpenny kicked two penalties inside the opening seven minutes. However, South Africa quickly found their rhythm following a Steyn penalty as they stunned Wales with a breathtaking try.
Wing Bryan Habana left the home defence for dead when he broke clear from inside his own half, and the supporting Du Plessis sent De Villiers over.
The Sprinboks scored their second with Wales still regrouping after the injuries suffered by Williams and Davies in the build-up to the first try. Two more Halfpenny penalties kept Wales in it and the hosts suddenly regained their early dominance, helped by a temporary one-man advantage when the Springboks flanker Francois Louw was sin-binned.
Halfpenny's fifth penalty from five attempts set up a pulsating final quarter. The game then took an unexpected twist, going to uncontested scrums for 10 minutes after referee Alain Rolland sin-binned rival props Gethin Jenkins and Coenie Oosthuizen. Wales had no more props to bring on, hence the unedifying uncontested episode, and Du Preez struck with both teams still down to 14 to seal victory.
Wales: Halfpenny, North, J Davies, S Williams, L Williams, Priestland, M. Phillips, Jenkins, Hibbard, A Jones, B Davies, A Jones, Lydiate, Warburton, Faletau, Andrews. Replacements: Beck for J Davies (13), Hook for L Williams (13), L Williams for M Phillips (73), Owens for Hibbard (64), Andrews for A Jones (32), Charteris for A Jones (73), Tipuric for Lydiate (64), James for Andrews (41). Sin-bin: Jenkins (58).
South Africa: Lambie, Pietersen, Fourie, de Villiers, Habana, Steyn, du Preez, Mtawarira, du Plessis, Malherbe, Etzebeth, van der Merwe, Louw, Alberts, Vermeulen. Replacements: le Roux for Steyn (19),
Steenkamp for Mtawarira (69), Strauss for du Plessis (67), Oosthuizen for Malherbe (57), du Toit for Etzebeth (69), Kolisi for Alberts (67). Not used: Pienaar, Engelbrecht. Sin-b in: Louw (37), Oosthuizen (58).
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article