Wales 16-52 South Africa: Warren Gatland's side slump to record defeat against world champions

Hooker Malcolm Marx got South Africa rolling with the first of their tries in Cardiff

World champions South Africa produced an eight-try demolition of an experimental and inexperienced Wales in a World Cup warm-up game in Cardiff.

There were two tries for Jessie Kriel and Canan Moodie, with more scores from Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Damien Willemse and a penalty try.

Sam Costelow kicked three Wales penalties, while hooker Sam Parry scored a late consolation try.

Wales coach Warren Gatland names his 33-man World Cup squad on Monday.

It was a chastening record defeat for the humbled hosts in Cardiff as the Springboks proved the predictable step-up from the England double-header Wales had previously faced this month.

It was also the first time Wales have conceded 50 points under the head coach tenure of Gatland, who has claimed his side will do something special at the World Cup.

Gatland will now take Wales to France with a joint all-time low world ranking of 10th as they open the campaign against Fiji on 10 September in Bordeaux, before further group games against Portugal, Georgia and Australia.

Wales' starting side against South Africa had only 235 caps with with only 39 international appearances in the backline.

• Wales 16-52 South Africa: As it happened

The hosts lost the experience of British and Irish Lions trio Alex Cuthbert (calf), Dan Biggar (back), and Liam Williams (hamstring), the trio having pulled out of the starting line-up as "precautionary measures".

In contrast, there were 659 caps in South Africa's line-up featuring the likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende and fit again captain Siya Kolisi.

The Springboks skipper went off at half-time after coming through his return. Kolisi has spent the last four months on the sidelines because of a knee injury.

South Africa now head to Twickenham to face New Zealand next Friday in their final warm-up match.

Running the rule

Wing Rio Dyer was a rare bright spark for Wales despite a first-half yellow card

There were very few positives for Gatland to consider in the carnage, with Wales showing a porous defence and an error-strewn and ineffective attack.

Maybe another all-action performance from captain Jac Morgan, while wing Rio Dyer was lively, despite eing given an unfortunate first-half yellow card, and centre Johnny Williams produced an encouraging performance. It was slim pickings though.

Wing Tom Rogers, fly-half Costelow and new cap Cai Evans at full-back were given opportunities after the withdrawal of Biggar, Cuthbert and Williams.

Rogers made an immediate impression by winning an early high ball, but then illegally tackled Kolbe in the air.

The Scarlets wing was caught out in defence after jumping out of the line, with Kolisi providing a try-scoring pass to Marx, and missed a tackle on centre Kriel as the South African sprinted away to score his second try.

Centre Johnny Williams bounced off an early attempted Marx tackle to set up the opening penalty kick for Costelow and initiated an early penalty after disrupting a South Africa ruck.

Williams also demonstrated his silky hands with a long pass that gave new cap Evans the chance for what could have been a first-half storming try, but gave away an interception try in the second half.

Williams was involved in a 22nd Wales centre partnership in 42 games since the 2019 World Cup when he linked up with Mason Grady, who inexplicably coughed up possession to opposite number Kriel for a first-half try.

After being handed debuts against England together in Cardiff, it was another chance for Cardiff props Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti to impress against the much-vaunted Springboks front row.

It proved an inauspicious start as Wales conceded a free-kick and three penalties from four scrums in the first half, while the Springboks set-piece maintained the upper hand after the break.

Final decisions

Gatland has some decisions to make after that humiliation in Cardiff.

Only fly-half Gareth Anscombe, Cuthbert and number eight Taulupe Faletau have not featured competitively among a 48-man training squad during the August schedule.

Hookers Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias, lock Dafydd Jenkins and back-row forward Taine Plumtree suffered injuries during Wales' home and away appointments with England.

Gatland admitted a discussion would be had on how many players he takes to France who are currently nursing knocks.

How many would now have played themselves out of the equation based on Saturday's showing remains to be seen.

Wales coach Warren Gatland on Amazon Prime: "It's disappointing, physically we were dominated both sides of the ball, for me that was disappointing. We gifted soft tries as well. I thought the yellow card on Rio Dyer was pretty harsh, the angles that we saw it looked like it hit a green hand first and then it's a penalty try and yellow card. Then we conceded straight after that from the kick off. It really changed the complexion going into half-time as we then needed to chase it.

"We could have played a couple of players today that were carrying a few niggles, but we wanted to be training fully all week to try and build some confidence around that. There were some players with inexperience out there and hopefully there'll be some learning.

"I thought South Africa were very good. They didn't make many mistakes, they carried the ball well, their defence put us under pressure. For a lot of those players playing against them, world champions, fully loaded, it's an experience for Wales.

"It's about looking back at some of the soft points we conceded and before half-time as well where can we fix those problems. They're definitely fixable. We need to be a little bit better in terms of the contact area and cleaning out and defensively coming off the line a bit more and winning some of those collisions. We let them dictate the pace of the game and play on the front foot.

"We'll go back to the hotel tonight as a coaching team and get as close to the final squad as we can. We'll then reconvene Sunday morning and if we've got any doubts about the squad we'll let the players know on Monday."

Wales: C Evans; Rogers, Grady, J Williams, Dyer; Costelow, Hardy; Domachowski, Dee, Assiratti, Carter, Rowlands, Lydiate, Morgan (capt), Wainwright.

Replacements: Parry, N Smith, H Thomas, Teddy Williams, Basham, Tomos Williams, Llewellyn, Rees-Zammit.

South Africa: Le Roux; Moodie, Kriel, de Allende, Kolbe; Libbok, J Hendrikse; Kitshoff, Marx, Malherbe, Kleyn, Snyman, Kolisi (capt), du Toit, Wiese.

Replacements: Mbonambi, Nche, Koch, Mostert, van Staden, Vermeulen, G Williams, Willemse.

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).

Assistant referees: Chris Busby (IRFU) and Eoghan Cross (IRFU)

TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)

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