Wales failed to score a single point once more against South Africa as the Springboks ran out convincing 43-0 Nations Championship winners in Durban.
South Africa won their previous meeting 73-0 in November when Wales, without England and France-based players in a Test played outside World Rugby’s official window, conceded 11 tries and suffered their heaviest home defeat.
The world champions were nowhere near as ruthless on home soil, but still scored seven tries with Jasper Wiese, Cobus Reinach, Jesse Kriel, Jaco Williams, Herschel Jantjies, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Paul de Villiers crossing.
This was the Springboks’ 11th consecutive win and their third in the Nations Championship after victories over England and Scotland to take them top of the Southern Section.
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The writing was on the wall in the opening exchanges as Wales fell off tackles in the same fashion as they had done in Argentina the previous week.
Wiese barged through inside five minutes and the Springboks soon set up another attacking position as the Wales scrum retreated at a furious pace.
Reinach darted to the right from another dominant scrum and Vusi Moyo landed his second conversion to settle his early nerves.
The game was being played almost entirely in the Wales half, but handling errors in the greasy conditions let the visitors off the hook.
Wales defended well to avoid further punishment before the break but the Springboks extended their advantage from the final play of the first half.
The forwards went through the phases before Moyo sent a cross-kick to the corner, and Jaco Williams beat namesake Tomos to knock the ball down for Kriel to profit.
South Africa claimed their bonus point within 40 seconds of the restart as Jaco Williams took advantage of a loose Wales kick to race over on debut.
Ellis Mee almost made the line as Wales enjoyed their best period, but points again proved elusive and normal service was resumed when Jaco Williams sped down the line and found Jantjies waiting inside.
Wales were dealt another blow when replacement prop Ben Warren was given a yellow card and sent to the sin bin after a TMO review picked up his high shot on Marco van Staden.
South Africa inevitably capitalised on their numerical advantage as Arendse and De Villiers’ first Test try put Wales out of their misery.
‘What it means to play for Wales’
Wales head coach, Steve Tandy, speaking post-match:
“It’s not a scoreline we want. I’m proud of the group and the effort they showed. There are a lot of young boys who have showed fight and what it means to play for Wales.
“We weren’t clinical or accurate enough in phases when we could have got on the board. When South Africa conceded five penalties in a row, we could have taken our time and squeezed them.
“But it shows at this level how far we’ve got to go; how disciplined and accurate you have to be against a team like South Africa.
“There is growth in every area – physicality, smartness – for us, but I believe in this group and the growth. These experiences are painful, but we’ve got to take the learnings from it.”
‘Stark difference’ – Lake proud of Wales ‘growth’
Wales captain Dewi Lake, speaking post-match:
“South Africa are a dominant team, No 1 in the world. For us it about stepping up to that and, in parts, we did.
“The growth for us is to keep that consistently across 80 minutes and every facet of the game.
“This group has gone from strength to strength. You’ve seen the gains we’ve made in the last six months. We’re only going to get better.
“The boys wear their hearts on their sleeves every time, there is no lack of effort. Our discipline was a bit off tonight, and weren’t consistent enough with our physicality.”
