Du Preez’s late try sees South Africa edge Wales in thrilling quarterfinal

Fourie du Preez’s late try proved to be the difference between South Africa and Wales

South African captain Fourie du Preez scored a late try in the 75th minute that helped the Springboks beat Wales 23-19 in the first quarterfinal of the 2015 Rugby World Cup at Twickenham. The South African scrum-half’s effort broke Welsh hearts as their brave resistance was finally breached denying them a famous win and a place in the final four of the competition.

Du Preez picked up Duane Vermeulen’s superb backhand flick to escape the Welsh defenders and raced away for the try on the left corner. That proved to be the clincher as the Springboks took the game from the Welsh Lions.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle between the two sides with Handre Pollard providing the Boks with the early lead through his on-target kicking. Wales however clinched the advantage right at the very death with Dan Biggar’s drop-goal.

That meant that Wales went into the break up 13-12. Biggar had earlier set up Gareth Davies for his fifth try of the tournament that helped bring Wales back into the match. 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.

The second half saw massive pressure from the Springboks as they laid siege to the Welsh territory. However, Pollard, who had a perfect four out of four with his kicking in the first half, missed a couple of penalties that came South Africa’s way.

With the try not forthcoming, South Africa did score though through a Pollard drop goal, but Wales responded immediately with Biggar once again making no mistake with the penalty kick. And as they traded three-pointers, Wales kept their slender lead alive with just about five minutes to go.

With Wales edging towards what would have been just their third ever victory over the Springboks, they conceded a scrum to South Africa in a dangerous position. And off the scrum, Du Preez managed to peel away to latch on Vermeulen’s superb pass to finally breach the Welsh defence that made close to 150 tackles in the match in a brave rear-guard effort.

South Africa, winners of the competition in 1995 and 2007, now await their semi-final opponents, the winner of the second quarterfinal between the defending champions New Zealand and France.