YOU COULD not fault Wales for blood or sweat in Cardiff yesterday, but Warren Gatland’s Grand Slammers were left in tears after a match that never really ignited, mainly because they were miles adrift of South Africa when it came to tactical savvy.

The world champions were as mean-spirited in defence as they were a year ago on their way to winning the World Cup, and they withstood a frenzied late assault by Wales – who narrowed the deficit from 20-3 to 20-15 in the last 24 minutes of the match thanks to four James Hook penalties – to get their autumn tour off to a winning start, scoring two tries to nil.

Yet it was Hook, who came on as a 51st-minute replacement for Stephen Jones, who in many ways typified Wales’s naivety, because his first pass of the match resulted in South Africa’s decisive second try.

Jean de Villiers has a reputation as one of the game’s arch-poachers, and the Springbok inside-centre read Hook’s pass to Jamie Roberts all the way, picking it off in mid-flight on the halfway line to sprint home untouched.

Although Hook showed great composure with his goal-kicking to force Wales back into contention, it was not a quality that either he or most of his teammates showed enough of in other areas of the game.

This lack of nous incensed Gatland, who said afterwards that he had laid into his team. “I am absolutely furious – we have let ourselves down. If you want to nail the big teams, you have to nail the big moments and we did not do that,” he said.

Wales dominated the second half in terms of possession, but too many of their attacks were launched from deep positions, allowing the Springbok defence – which pushed the offside line to its limits – to bury them. This was despite the best efforts of Andy Powell, who had an outstanding debut at No 8, and Lee Byrne, who frequently broke the first line of defence only to run out of support.

Wales had their chances to clinch victory in the last eight minutes of the match, but their failure to damage South Africa at a defensive five-metre scrum, with John Smit vulnerable at tighthead, betrayed their lack of scrummaging clout. Not only that, but they lost two lineout throws deep inside the South Africa 22, including on the final play of the game, allowing Juan Smith to steal the ball and close the game out.

The usual aim of a visiting team is to silence the home crowd by denying their team any early momentum. The Springboks followed the script to the letter and, after a barrage of high kicks, they switched the emphasis to ball-in-hand.

The result was impressive. When Ruan Pienaar rained down another high kick, this time targeting Shane Williams, JP Pietersen was on him in a flash, forcing the turnover.

Suddenly, the Springboks seemed to go up 10 extra gears as the ball whipped down their line with Adrian Jacobs feeding Schalk Burger, who handled twice before Conrad Jantjes made a probing dart down the left wing.

When he was brought to a halt in the Welsh 22, South Africa hit the ruck with venom to produce rapid loose ball, and another wave of Springbok attackers crashed forward before Smith smashed to within a metre of the line. After that assault the first try of the match was a formality, with Jacobs taking Fourie Du Preez’s short pass to drill over, Pienaar converting from in front for a 7-0 lead with only five minutes on the clock.