Match Centre: Wales 16-52 South Africa

Wales 16-52 South Africa, Cardiff

Canan Moodie and Jesse Kriel scored doubles as South Africa came up with a dominating second half performance to complete a 16-52 victory against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.

South Africa made a brisk start to the game as their forwards breached the defence of Wales before returning skipper Siya Kolisi made his presence felt straightaway as he offloaded to Malcolm Marx, who went over the line in the 4th minute. The conversion from Manie Libbok drifted wide as the visitors had a 0-5 lead.

Wales opened their account in the 8th minute when Sam Costelow landed a three-pointer to reduce the arrears before Libbok missed another opportunity in front of the posts.

Costelow put Wales in front by the end of the first quarter as Kriel was pinged for not rolling away and Costelow kicked his second penalty goal to make it 6-5 but it was short lived as Libbok east past the defence of the home side allowing Canan Moodie to touchdown. Libbok kicked the conversion to make it 6-12.

As South Africa infringed once again with this time Moody was pinged for an obstruction, Costelow landed his third three-pointer to reduce the gap down to three points but the visitors dominated the end of the opening half as Wales lost Rio Dyer to sin-bin for deliberately hitting ball into touch that also resulted in a penalty try for the Boks.

With the numerical advantage on their side, Boks pressed the accelerator with this time an offload from Mason Grady allowed Kriel to score at the stroke of half time as the visitors completed the opening half with a 9-24 lead.

South Africa extended the momentum into the second half as Pieter-Steph du Toit intercepted the hosts as he set up Kriel's second try and later Du Toit also forced his way over at the end of the third quarter to make it 9-38.

The start of the final quarter saw Moodie darts in to intercept a pass and sprint through to ground for his second try and Damian Willemse followed the suit to take the Boks' tally to past 50 points. With 12 minutes left in the game, the Wales had a player down with Williams sin-binned for an infringement but the visitors surrendered the advantage as Willemse was also yellow carded for a tackle on Dyer.

Even though, Sam Parry scored a consolation try for Warren Gatland's men in the closing stage, South Africa went on to complete a 36-point victory as they prepare for the title defence next month.

Team line up:

Wales: 15. Cai Evans, 14. Tom Rogers, 13. Mason Grady, 12. Johnny Williams, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Sam Costelow, 9. Kieran Hardy, 1. Corey Domachowski, 2. Elliot Dee, 3. Keiron Assiratti, 4. Ben Carter, 5. Will Rowlands, 6. Dan Lydiate, 7. Jac Morgan (capt), 8. Aaron Wainwright.

Reserves: 16. Sam Parry, 17. Nicky Smith, 18. Henry Thomas, 19. Teddy Williams, 20. Taine Basham, 21. Tomos Williams, 22. Max Llewellyn, 23. Louis Rees-Zammit.

South Africa: 15. Willie le Roux, 14. Canan Moodie, 13. Jesse Kriel, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Cheslin Kolbe, 10. Manie Libbok, 9. Jaden Hendrikse, 1. Steven Kitshoff, 2. Malcolm Marx, 3. Frans Malherbe, 4. Jean Kleyn, 5. RG Snyman, 6. Siya Kolisi (capt), 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8. Jasper Wiese.

Reserves: 16. Bongi Mbonambi, 17. Ox Nche, 18. Vincent Koch, 19. Franco Mostert, 20. Marco van Staden, 21. Duane Vermeulen, 22. Grant Williams, 23. Damian Willemse.