Wales have beaten South Africa once in 107 years and that victory was against a weakened team in 1999 to test the redeveloped Millennium Stadium in the buildup to the World Cup that year, but they scent an opportunity in Durban on Saturday with the Springboks scrabbling around for a midfield.
Injuries and the surprise decision this week of Frans Steyn to pull out of the squad for reasons which were not explained but which are believed to be related to a dispute about pay, have forced the South Africa head coach, Heyneke Meyer, to recall Wynand Olivier, a veteran last capped two years ago who last week played against the Springboks for a World XV, and award a first cap to Paul Jordaan.
Olivier was summoned after Juan de Jongh was ruled out for the rest of the month with pneumonia. The new pair joined up with the squad little more than 24 hours before the kick-off against a Wales side boosted by the recovery of the wing George North from a virus. While the men in red are without four injured Lions – Sam Warburton, Leigh Halfpenny, Richard Hibbard and Justin Tipuric – Warren Gatland has his first-choice three-quarter line available and his team will have an advantage behind to exploit if they achieve parity at forward.
“George has not trained for a couple of days but he is raring to go,” said the Wales attack coach, Rob Howley. “South Africa will remember when he made his international debut against them in 2010 when he scored two tries and he has since established himself as a world-class player. He may not last the full 80 minutes, but he will tell us how he is feeling in the second-half of what will be an intense game.”
Howley led Wales to victory against the Springboks 15 years ago but reckons a first Test success against them on South African soil would be a greater achievement. “We know it will be a step up, but we have trained well all week and had a decisive victory in a warm-up match against Eastern Kings. We know the challenge we will face.”
The Durban encounter is not the only test facing the Welsh Rugby Union this weekend. Forty-three clubs, concerned at the way decisions were being made, have called an emergency general meeting of the governing body which will be held in Port Talbot on Sunday.
The architect of the rebellion is David Moffett, the former group chief executive of the WRU who has become its sternest critic, claiming that it has become autocratic and unrepresentative, although he will not be at the meeting having returned to his home in New Zealand this week. His assertions were rebuffed by the union’s chairman David Pickering in an email sent out to all member clubs on Friday.
“It is time for the voices of doom to be silenced as Welsh rugby must now emerge united and strong for the sake of us all,” said Pickering. “Over recent months the only noises in the public domain have been of dissention [sic] and gloom from what I believe to be a hard core of ill-informed people.”
Pickering said the WRU would answer all and any questions put to it at the egm with the clubs who called the meeting ready to propose a vote of no confidence in the board of directors if they are not satisfied with the union’s explanations about a number of its policies, including a league restructuring.
“Expect some fireworks,” said one club delegate. “We intend to take Pickering at his word and ask questions about matters that have so far remained secret, such as how much the new contract to Warren Gatland is worth and whys and wherefores about the paying down of the debt on the Millennium Stadium ahead of schedule. Pickering calls the clubs ill-informed, but the point is we are not informed. That has to change.”
