South Africa tour: Warren Gatland pleased with Wales warm-up win

Matthew Morgan impressed against EP Kings

Head coach Warren Gatland believes Wales' warm-up game against Eastern Province Kings was exactly what the tourists needed ahead of the first Test against South Africa.

Wales warmed up for Saturday's Test in Durban with a with a five-try 34-12 victory in Port Elizabeth.

The game had been arranged by the Wales management ahead of Tests against the Springboks on successive Saturdays.

"I'm absolutely delighted with that result and performance," Gatland said.

"It was a tough game and I thought it was great to see that they came out and played rugby. Typical South African, they never gave up and really went out and put us under some pressure.

"We got a huge amount out of tonight, a lot of confidence and it will be good for the future."

Tries from Josh Turnbull and Cory Allen, with two conversions and a penalty from James Hook, gave Wales a 17-0 interval lead.

Hook and Alex Cuthbert added further tries before Siviwe Soyizwapi crossed for the hosts. However, Gareth Davies scored Wales' fifth try before Simon Kerrod crossed late on for the Kings.

Gatland was pleased with how a largely second-string team went about their task and hinted that some of them could be in consideration for the first Test.

Northampton's George North had originally been named on the bench for the game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. But Gatland confirmed the British and Irish Lions wing had felt ill before the game and been withdrawn as a precaution.

"Last night he had a headache and fever so we just thought it precautionary just to isolate so that he didn't affect anyone else," Gatland added.