Siya Kolisi picked up a try assist on his return as the Springboks put a youthful Wales to the sword in their penultimate 2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up in Cardiff on Saturday.
Kolisi completed an excellent half of rugby to signal his readiness for the World Cup as a vastly more experienced South Africa claimed a 52-16 victory over the hosts, who lost a handful of experienced players to knocks on the eve of the match.
The margin marks the Boks’ biggest win against the Dragons in Wales.
The world champions will be delighted that Kolisi got through 40 minutes of rugby without any complaints in his first game back from knee surgery.
Siya Kolisi is back for South Africa 👏🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/LfG6jJ3nhG
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2023
An added bonus was that the captain wasted little time in getting stuck in, setting up his side’s first try in the fifth minute, while he also carried strongly and got through his typical mountain of around the field.
There were also impressive performances from man of the match Canan Moodie, centre Jesse Kriel, both of whom scored a brace of tries, scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, flank Pieter-Steph du Toit and the lock pair of RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn.
The first 20 or so minutes were a bit of a struggle for the Boks, as Wales caused a few problems with their kicking game and stayed in the contest through the boot of young flyhalf Sam Costelow.
Three penalties from Costelow saw Wales claw their way back despite conceding tries to Malcolm Marx and Moodie. However, a hammer blow came in the form of a controversial penalty try after Rio Dyer prevented Moodie from scoring a second try late in the first half.
Kriel finished off an excellent move from the kickoff to take the Boks to a 24-9 lead at the break.
Exceptional work by Pieter-Steph du Toit as Kriel scores his second in Cardiff 🔥
📺 Stream the Boks live: https://t.co/bDeiretgWP pic.twitter.com/LaRkfzh7Aa
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2023
It was always going to be tough for the home side to catch the Boks from there and their job was made even harder when Kriel showed good pace to finish an intercept from Du Toit from inside South Africa’s 22.
From there, the Boks cruised as Du Toit forced his way over, Moodie sealed a deserved brace and Damian Willemse brought up the half-century before being shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
Photo: Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images