Ryan Elias' late-try gives Wales 20-22 win over South Africa
Hallam Amos scored the opening try for Wales
©PA
South Africa 20-22 Wales, RFK Stadium
Scorecard
Ryan Elias scored the decisive try in the closing stage as Wales completed a thrilling 20-22 win in Washington DC on Saturday.
Wales finished the first half strong with a 3-14 lead but Rassie Erasmus' men fought back brilliantly in the second half to give a tough fight.
South Africa started the game having a total of seven uncapped players in the line-up while Wales were also without a most of their British and Irish Lions stars.
With close to 22,000 people at the RFK Stadium, both the teams struggled to score a point before Elton Jantjies kicked a three-pointer in the 19th minute to get the Boks off the mark. An injury to Steff Evans saw him replaced by Hadleigh Parkes in the 30th minute.
A combination of good work from Ellis Jenkins, Parkes and Ross Moriarty sent Hallam Amos over the line in the 31st minute to get Wales off the mark and two minutes later Tomos Williams on his debut breached the home side's defence to go over the line. A double conversion from Gareth Anscombe meant Warren Gatland's side had a 3-14 lead going into the break.
Winger Travis Ismaiel gave South Africa a promising start in the second half as he dotted down in the 44th minute and a conversion from Jantjies brought the gap down to four points but Anscombe kicked another penalty four minutes later to restore seven points lead for Wales.
Wales suffered a setback when Owen Watkin was sin-binned in the 57th minute and South Africa made full use of the numerical advantage when Makazole Mapimpi crashed over the line. Jantjies once again was spot on with the conversion and with six minutes left in the game, Robert du Preez slotted a penalty kick as the scoreline moved to 20-17 but Elias had other plans as he scored the decisive try in the 75th minute to complete a thrilling two point victory for Wales.
