Cape Town - Wales will be the underdogs against the Springboks on Saturday, says coach Wayne Pivac, but he hopes that the crowd at the Principality Stadium can spur on the team and continue an impressive recent record against the world champions in Cardiff.
It was not much of a surprise when New Zealander Pivac, who took charge of the Welsh side after the 2019 Rugby World Cup following Warren Gatland’s departure, claimed the underdogs tag on Thursday after making six changes to the starting XV that lost 54-16 to the All Blacks last weekend.
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Not only did long-serving captain Alun Wyn Jones sustain a second shoulder injury this year that will keep him off the field beyond next year’s Six Nations, but loose forwards Ross Moriarty (shoulder) and Taulupe Faletau (ankle) are also out with injuries.
Ace fullback Liam Williams is only on the bench, as he is playing in his first match since the third British and Irish Lions Test against the Boks in August following an appendectomy, while veteran hooker Ken Owens is also not fully recovered from a back problem.
So, it’s a rather inexperienced Welsh line-up for Saturday’s Test. But they do have some big names back who didn’t play last week, such as flyhalf Dan Biggar, centre Nick Tompkins and wing Louis Rees-Zammit, who will look to find gaps in the Boks’ much-vaunted defence, while classy centre Jonathan Davies will take over the captaincy from Jones.
The South Africans have not won in Cardiff since 2013 either, losing in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 – although they did beat Wales at the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups.
“I think if you’re realistic about it, on paper, we will be the underdogs – there’s no doubt about that. The fact that we’re playing at home is massive for us… we love playing at home,” Pivac said during a press conference from Cardiff on Thursday.
“The fact that we’ve got our crowd back… Last week, the one thing the players were talking about was the difference coming into the ground and just seeing the sea of red.
“The atmosphere in the ground, and then the support of the fans goes a long way in pushing the players on to bigger and better things, and we will certainly need that this weekend.
“But we will go in as underdogs, but at the end of the day, it’s 15 players going out and giving their all, and we expect that from the 23 that are going to represent Wales this weekend.”
Wales utilised a rather conservative style under previous coach Gatland, which saw them kick a lot and apply pressure through their defence, which brought them great success against the Boks in the past.
The 59-year-old Pivac has encouraged his team to make better use of their possession, but knows that the South Africans thrive on playing off turnover ball as well.
“We probably want to do a mixture really, because there will be times in the game where, when you’ve got a world-class defence coming at you, the way the South African defence pressure sides, we’ve got to respect that,” he said.
“I think if we just move the ball willy-nilly – which we saw against the All Blacks, where at times we were caught man and ball – so, we’ve got to be smart in picking our options. We’ve looked at that so far this week, and we have another session this afternoon. We’re looking at our options and going through those in training.
“We’ve got to be good enough to be able to play the same sort of tactics as South Africa at times, but also look to move some ball and try to create some space. So, a bit of a mixture, I would say.”
Wales Team
15 Johnny McNicholl 14 Louis Rees-Zammit 13 Jonathan Davies (captain) 12 Nick Tompkins 11 Josh Adams 10 Dan Biggar 9 Tomos Williams 8 Aaron Wainwright 7 Taine Basham 6 Ellis Jenkins 5 Adam Beard 4 Will Rowlands 3 Tomas Francis 2 Ryan Elias 1 Rhys Carré.
Bench: 16 Bradley Roberts 17 Wyn Jones 18 WillGriff John 19 Ben Carter 20 Seb Davies 21 Gareth Davies 22 Gareth Anscombe 23 Liam Williams.
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