Johannesburg - The Springboks will be feeling the pressure from the capacity crowd at Cape Town Stadium (5.05pm kickoff), and Wales “fancy themselves” if Saturday’s series decider is a tight affair in the closing stages.
That was the word from coach Wayne Pivac on Thursday after making just one enforced change to his team.
Josh Adams replaces the injured Alex Cuthbert at left wing, with captain and flyhalf Dan Biggar (shoulder) and prop Dillon Lewis (arm) recovering from knocks that forced them off the pitch during last week’s 13-12 victory in Bloemfontein.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber, though, made 11 changes to his team and reverted to most of the players that started in the first Test win in Pretoria.
Nienaber has been criticised in some quarters for picking a so-called ‘B team’ at the Free State Stadium, and now he is banking on his more established players to avoid a first ever series defeat to Wales in South Africa.
“We will put the first two Tests behind us and look at this as a one-off game – winner-takes-all really, a series win. There will be pressure on the home team, there’s no doubt about that, because going in, they were red-hot favourites. To be taken to the last game, that adds a bit of spice, a little bit of pressure,” Pivac said at the team’s city hotel on Thursday.
“But they are a quality team, and if you look at the team-sheet, it’s close to the team that we played in the first Test, and that was a humdinger. Both squads have been together a bit longer now, so it’s going to be a fair old challenge for us.
“But all the soreness and tiredness of the tour goes out of the window when you get that adrenaline when kickoff comes.”
Wales almost withheld their fire until late in the Bloemfontein game, when Adams scored and Gareth Anscombe slotted a touchline conversion to hand the visitors their first win over the Boks in Mzansi.
But Pivac has called on his team to come up with the same assured start that they enjoyed at Loftus Versfeld, where they ran up an 18-3 lead.
“It certainly wasn’t intentional to come hard at the end (in the second Test)! We tried to get the start that we had in the first Test, and every side tries to do that. We will need to get a good start… we know that, so if we could replicate anything like the first Test, we would be very happy,” the New Zealander said.
“It was also good to finish the game strongly after the week before, where our discipline cost us and it was probably a role-reversal really. It’s one of these games where if we can stay in it and be there in the end… Our fitness levels are good and we have a lot to play for, so we fancy ourselves in the closing stages if the game is tight.
“Nothing has changed – the Springboks have got a powerful scrum, a very good driving lineout. So for us, what has to happen is that we have to have a disciplined display, and make sure that we don’t give away silly penalties, like we did in the first Test – and certainly the yellow cards that plagued us.
“We want to make sure that we can tighten that up, and if we can play with 15 players against 15, then we will be very happy.”
Wales team: 15 Liam Williams 14 Louis Rees-Zammit 13 George North 12 Nick Tompkins 11 Josh Adams 10 Dan Biggar (captain) 9 Kieran Hardy 8 Taulupe Faletau 7 Tommy Reffell 6 Dan Lydiate 5 Adam Beard 4 Will Rowlands 3 Dillon Lewis 2 Ryan Elias 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake 17 Wyn Jones 18 Sam Wainwright 19 Alun Wyn Jones 20 Josh Navidi 21 Tomos Williams 22 Gareth Anscombe 23 Owen Watkin.
IOL Sport