South Africa win third test against Wales to secure series

CAPE TOWN: South Africa won a decisive third test 30-14 versus Wales on Saturday (Jul 16) to secure the series 2-1 and halt a run of northern hemisphere victories after success for Ireland and England earlier in the day.

Flyhalf Handre Polland scored 20 points, including the first try, as the world champions outscored the tourists three tries to one.

Bongi Mbonambi and captain Siya Kolisi added the other Springbok scores with Pollard kicking three conversions and three penalties.

Thomas Reffell went over for the Welsh try and skipper Dan Bigger added three penalties for the tourists, who upset the hosts in last week's second test in Bloemfontein to set up a series decider.

"We approached it as a final," Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said. "It was a tough series but exactly what we needed to start our season.

"A lot of players got opportunities and that was important for us for the future."

Earlier on Saturday, Ireland claimed their first ever series victory in New Zealand, while England also won 2-1 in Australia as those two sides flexed their muscles a little over a year out from the next Rugby World Cup in France.

Wales were in contention for most of the match in Cape Town but ultimately succumbed to the supremacy of the Bok pack in a game in which both backlines failed to fire and it was instead an arm-wrestle among the forwards.

The Boks love that and with their 6-2 split on the bench, were able to up the power game in the final 20 minutes to take the contest away from the visitors.

They turned down numerous kicks for goal in search of tries and got the first when Pollard scrambled over from close-range after 15 minutes.

Wales struck back straight away as they finally got their hands on the ball and moved through the phases,