Willemse sparks second-half magic to save Boks from embarrassing first home defeat against Wales

At Loftus Versfeld

Damian Willemse's last-minute penalty spared the Springboks the embarrassment of losing a first-ever home Test against Wales when they won 32-29 in Tshwane on Saturday evening.

In front of a heaving 51 762 capacity crowd at the Sunnyside-based ground, Wales had charged into an 18-3 half-time lead and stretched it to 24-15.

The Boks though put their act together in patches to keep their unbeaten home record against Wales intact.

The Boks and the packed stadium were shocked into silence when Louis Rees-Zammit dotted down in the corner in the third minute.

The try originated from a botched line-out driving maul that the Welsh disrupted before catching the Boks' rush defence on the hop by shifting the ball wide and at pace.

Rees-Zammit is one of the fastest players in world rugby and once Bok fullback Damian Willemse was drawn into the line defence, the space was there and Rees-Zammit wasn't going to be caught.

Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli, who was assisted by Australia's Angus Gardner from Australia France's Andrew Piardi, gave the bulk of the 50/50 calls to the visiting team in that opening period.

One of those was a tackle in the air by Dan Biggar on Elton Jantjies that led to Rees-Zammit's second try in the 31st minute.

While the lineout from Welsh hooker Ryan Elias was a wayward one, Jantjies coughing up possession allowed speedster Rees-Zammit to dash in and complete his brace.

While Amashukeli didn't have the best of first halves, the Boks were their own worst enemies with their nervous inaccuracy.

This was encapsulated in an unexpectedly highly-strung display from Jantjies. His tactical kicking not only let him down, but so did his goal kicking and general match-management.

Jantjies missed two reasonable