South Africa name the 'hard' Wales player they know won't be scared of them in the slightest

Siya Kolisi is preparing for a toe-to-toe battle with Wales tomorrow, name-checking full-back Liam Williams to illustrate how the visitors are ‘tough people’.

South Africa will host the first of three Test matches in Pretoria tomorrow, with the build-up all circling around the home team being significant favourites. But the Springboks themselves are wary of the challenge that lies in wait for them.

Wales are desperate to reverse their fortunes, having stewed on a defeat to Italy for three months. Giving his views ahead of the match, South Africa skipper Kolisi insisted they weren’t taking things lightly.

He said: “Welsh guys are tough and they don’t stop for 80 minutes. We know that as a team they will stand up to us physically for the whole 80 minutes, so when you have your opportunities, you have to take them.

“You saw in the [Rugby World Cup] semi-final, it went down to the wire. It was so close. We’ve got similar game plans, a similar way of playing and they’re tough people who have also been through hardships.

“Some of these stories in their team, where they come from... A guy like Liam Williams is a hard guy, he’s a nice guy off the field but he’s no nonsense.

“On the field, he will go toe-to-toe and that’s what we’re preparing for tomorrow. They’re not going to be scared, we respect them a lot and that’s why we’ve made sure to prepare as hard as we can this weekend.

“We’re going to have to make sure we don’t just pitch up tomorrow but we pitch up with the right attitude.”

Kolisi is familiar with Wales, having faced them on many occasions, but this will be the first time that the opposition captain will be Dan Biggar, with Alun Wyn Jones poised to come off the bench for Wayne Pivac’s side.

He said: “I think he’s