Wales slip to defeat in Test decider as South Africa save their best for last

World champions South Africa reserved their best for last as they ended Wales’ dream of a Test series triumph by winning the decider 30-14 in Cape Town.

Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber recalled eight of South Africa’s 2019 World Cup-winning team after Wales levelled the series seven days ago.

And it worked a treat as South Africa took the series 2-1 through tries from Handre Pollard, Bongi Mbonambi and Siya Kolisi, with Pollard kicking three conversions and three penalties for a 20-point haul.

Wales battled hard throughout and their defensive resistance often proved heroic, but they could only muster a Tommy Reffell try and three penalties from captain Dan Biggar as they missed out on matching series success for Ireland in New Zealand and England in Australia.

Just four months after losing at home to Italy in the Guinness Six Nations, Wales will rightly view the tour as being successful in so many ways, particularly with one eye on next year’s World Cup.

And they also made history through their victory in Bloemfontein that saw them become the first Wales team to beat the Springboks on South African soil.

Ultimately, though, South Africa had too much in the tank for a Wales team that gave it everything and generated plenty of optimism for Pivac as the World Cup countdown continues.

Wales suffered a late blow when number eight Taulupe Faletau was ruled out after the warm-up, suffering an injury to his side, with Josh Navidi replacing him and Taine Basham joining the substitutes.

Gareth Anscombe – Wales’ second Test matchwinner when he kicked a late touchline conversion – missed out because of a rib injury, so Rhys Patchell took over on the bench, and one enforced change in the starting line-up saw wing Josh Adams