“I have always said that coaching is overrated, you have to pick guys with character”.
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Biggar hit the post with a long-range shot but with time up, he sent a drop straight through the middle to give Wales the narrowest of advantages as the teams heading for the changing rooms. “It’s hard to find the words”.
South Africa won another penalty heading into the final quarter and Pollard from out wide on the left, nudged the Springboks into an 18-16 lead.
Gatland’s squad rallied from a crippling injury list to make it out of a group of death including hosts England, Australia and Fiji but will now be spectators for the semi-finals.
Injuries took a toll, however, with a host of backline stars ruled out of the tournament, including influential fullback and goalkicker Leigh Halfpenny. Rugby fans in the United States will have the chance to watch South Africa-New Zealand, which will be broadcast on NBC at 11 a.m. ET.
There was precious little to separate the sides at the interval as Wales led 13-12 thanks to a try from scrumhalf Gareth Davies and a drop-goal on the stroke of halftime from Dan Biggar.
Biggar made him pay with a successful three-pointer after Schalk Burger was pinged but the South African kicker momentarily redeemed himself by nailing a 51st-minute drop goal.
South Africa’s ability to build a strong lead early on, came from Welsh issues at the breakdown, with Wayne Barnes penalising them for a number of different infringments.
He was tackling like a forward, too, with the Springboks sending waves of attackers in his direction, until he was injured in the 74th minute and had to leave the field for a head injury assessment.
“The game is brutal and it takes its toll, and unfortunately it has taken its toll on us more than most teams”. His pain was aggravated a minute later when du Preez scored the winning try.
“But walking around the stadium after the game, it feels like it is going to hurt a bit more than four years ago”. “I was just delighted that we could pull it through”.
Asked about the coaching staff staying together, Wales fly-half Biggar said: “Absolutely”.
With the game in the balance, both sides knew any mistakes would be costly in the outcome of the game, especially the Boks, with Biggar in such good form with the boot.
“At the end of the day, South Africa did what South Africa do”. They hung in there right until the 80 minutes.
“It was a team that played with panache, physicality and skill and their defence was equal to their attack…it was a very, very special performance”. There were a lot of youngsters playing their first World Cup quarter-final.
New Zealand will play a semifinal next weekend against the Springboks and, on this form, will be a hot favourite.
The result means Wales, who finished third in this year’s RBS 6 Nations, fail to reach the semi-finals for the sixth time in the last seven World Cups, whereas the Springboks are still on track to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy for a third time.
By the end of this match, the All Blacks were chasing their own record margin against the French: which was a 61-10 defeat in 2007.
“It’s essentially two tries”.
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The No. 8 drew in Alex Cuthbert before flicking a sumptuous pass out of the back of his hand which enabled du Preez to dive over. Davies now is joint-first for most tries in the competition with five alongside South Africa’s Bryan Habana and New Zealand’s Julian Savea.
