South Africa beat Wales 43-0 in Durban and never looked in danger of letting the result slip. Wales finished without a point, while South Africa crossed for seven tries in a Nations Championship match that moved from control to cruise by the final quarter.
The scoreline mattered because it was not a case of one decisive break and then a scramble to protect it. South Africa kept building pressure, and Arendse’s 68th-minute finish in the corner came after a crowd celebration for Nelson Mandela’s birthday had already lifted the ground. By then Wales were already chasing a game that had drifted beyond them, and the clean sheet told the fuller story: South Africa did not just win, they removed Wales from the contest.
The final margin was shaped by repeated pressure rather than a single collapse. Wales defended mauls very well, which kept them afloat for stretches and denied South Africa the easy route to the line, but that resistance did not stop the tries from coming. Jantjies went over unopposed in the 63rd minute after Willemse created the attack, then De Villiers finished from the rear of a maul with a minute left. In between, South Africa were in control for much of the final ten minutes, the kind of control that turns territory into points and every error into another defensive set for Wales.
There were flashes where Wales briefly held the shape of the match, but they could not turn survival into momentum. At 56 minutes South Africa were back on attack after Fassi knocked on. Two minutes later Libbok floated a cross-kick over Mee’s head for Williams to link with Kriel, only for the move to break down. South Africa then chose another scrum in the Wales 22 at 61 minutes, and when Ben Warren was sent off for at least 10 minutes after a high tackle on Van Staden was reviewed by the TMO, the pressure only increased. Even then, Wales’ best work came in the maul, a narrow victory in one part of the game that did nothing to change the wider score.
That is the part Wales will have to live with: they can point to some better moments in defence, but they still conceded seven tries and never crossed once. South Africa, by contrast, looked like a side able to punish almost every opening. For a team still taking shape in the same competition, the performance underlined how wide the gap can be when one side keeps possession, keeps patience and keeps finishing. The live programme moves on to Argentina vs England later, but this one ends with a simple marker: South Africa were the side that controlled the afternoon, and Wales left Durban scoreless.
