The Performance of Wales in tests over the past year

As expected South Africa will meet Wales in the quarterfinal on Saturday and where the problem areas of S was in the tests over the past 16 months.   
However - lets look at the performances of Wales over the past year in all tests and see where we gets in trying to get to an indication as to what is likely to happen in the upcoming quarterfinal.
November 2014
Wales played in the following tests:-
Australia          33 - 28   =   Wales LossFiji                  17 - 13   =   Wales WinNew Zealand    34 - 16   =   Wales LossSouth Africa     12 - 6    =   Wales Win
6 Nations
England           21 - 16  =   Wales LossScotland          26 - 23 =    Wales winFrance            20 - 13 =    Wales winIreland            23 - 16  =   Wales winItaly               61 - 20  =   Wales Win
World Cup
Uruguay          64 -  9  =   Wales winEngland          28 -  25  =  Wales WinFiji                 23 - 13  =   Wales WinAustralia         16 - 6    =   Wales Loss
Discussion
So what can we learn from the above "jigsaw puzzle".
1.   Wales beat SA in 2014 when SA Rugby was in a real slump.   It was part of a series where the SA Tight 5 was in a series plight - not being competitive anymore.   No tries were scored in either side in that game - and the game was won in penalties, with the SA Tight 5 contributed generously to the problem.  The SA backline got poor balls from the forwards.   The serious indication is that SA must optimize there Tight 5 to be competitive.
2.    In the 6 Nations Wales struggled against Scotland - beating them by 3 points.  In their latest game in the World Cup South Africa beat Scotland by 18 points.  The lesson to be learnt here was that South Africa beat Scotland by their domination of the Scots n the Tight 5.         
3     England beat Wales in the 6 Nations and the loss against Wales in the WC was the result of very poor decisionmaking by England rather than by being better on the field of play.   England lost badly against Australia - who beat England twice over the past year.   The conclusion is that England performed sub-par in the WC and Australia normally beats Wales by not more than 9 points. 
4    Australia beat SA in 2 of the last 3 matches they played against SA..  In both tests lost by SA - the Springboks managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.   In the Perth test in 2014 the loss stemmed from a disastrous performance by Morne Steyn - who handed the win to Australia on a platter.   The second win stemmed from a disastrous selection and usage of the bench by Meyer.   Matfield was selected and played for 17 minutes - whereafter De Jager was brought on to play.  De Jager was proven to be much better than Matfield was - showing that the latter should not have been anywhere near to the team.  The other disasters was the poor performance in that team and the disastrous selection of Van der Merwe as the bench loose head prop.   The key is that the right selections should be made and the key is the Tight 5 selections.
Conclusion
South Africa can beat Wales with relative ease provided the right selections are made for the match day sqaud.   The Tight 5 should dominate and th backline should get good balls and not kick the balls away.    


  
                                

 The Boks got caught out up north with their forward approach applying fewer numbers at the breakdown, plain and simple. An approach that worked down under I might add. Wales always test us at the breakdown. They scrap for possession and turn the game into a slugfest. But how exactly do you think we should attack the Welsh defence? How do you think Damian and Kriel can be a competitve advantage.

"As expected South Africa will meet Wales in the quarterfinals".... But not expected by you Perv. You forget according to you we were going to be out in the pools  

This exposes Liarperv again
 WALSA62% / 44%Possession 1H/2H38% / 56%63% / 42%Territory 1H/2H37% / 58%4Line Breaks412Defenders Beaten813Offloads872 / 81 (89%)Rucks Won58 / 67 (87%)1 / 2 (50%)Mauls Won7 / 8 (88%)17Turnovers Conceded13Set PiecesWALOWN SCRUMS WONSA3/4 (75%)(89%) 8/9OWN LINEOUTS WON13/17 (76%)(90%) 9/10

 To be fair Mike, I am not a big fan of Mozarts views. But you did technically say Boks won't make it out of pool play haha. Your lot should dispose of Wales pretty easily though.

No offense taken. 

 My contention remains - we have to have Tight 5 dominance and that remains the key issue.  I am not particularly worried about our center combination - they are in attack much more effective than the one we fielded last year.   The story about defense has been over-emphasized by the two detractors.  There has been problems earlier - but the combination is getting better with more game time and experience.
The detractors are both in the same mold.   Donkey kick the Sh!t out of balls - if the  flyhalf does not do it - the 12 must do it.   That is why their favoured players are Morne Steyn and Francois Steyn.  The atrocious defense of those two and their non-existent attacking play do not count as long as they can kick the ball. 
ln any event their team selection for Saturday will be a serious joke and what they come up with would be a disaster on Saturday.        

 Luke
I was aghast by the dismal display of inadequacy in the Japan test and saw disaster if Meyer went forward with that team.  In the succeeding tests some of the worst performers vanished from the side - hence the vast improvement in performance.   I think that the absence of players like De Villiers - a very good captain - but who never recovered form after the injury last year, Matfield, Pienaar, Jannie and Alberts from the starting line-up has meant a vast improvement in the team.   Meyer also put the rocket under some of the remaining passengers and they did start to improve.  
Without those changes the result would have been disastrous.   Let hope they remain out of contention and that we put up a better show than expected.          

 Well as I said injuries forced you to play the players who should of been playing their in the first place.

 Actually de Villiers, Matfield and Jannie played against Samoa.....such a pity when the facts intervene and spoi l a perfectly nice myth.

 Fact is Matfield left early because of an injury - before the injury he was as per normal useless and both De Villiers and Jannie was ineffective in the Samoa game.   We struggled with Matfield and Jannie around - much better after they were gone.  Any team without them represents a vast improvement in performance.
The same will apply on Saturday  - keep Jannie, Matfield and Gatso away from the team and we will do better than expected,    

DF
The Springbok weakness up north was consistently that we only had at most one player at breakdown points and none of their backline did anything about breakdown ball recovery.   However, the main problem was not only that - the act was that our Tight 5 was poor and generous in contribution of penalties to the opposing teams.
      

 
I'm afraid the writing's on the wall

The Welsh couldn't even penetrate an Ozzie defense with 2 men off the pitch.

Looks as if the Goats are going to push through beyond the quarters.

What an easy road they've had to the semis.

Probably the easiest of all the pools.

Really bad news.

I love this, everything Vic does is useless and when he plays our scrums, mauls, lineouts, rucking, kicks, defence and attack are all affected. Perhaps Michael should investigate the affect Vic has on the weather and the surrounding population as well. 

 DF
Matfield should ne ver have returned to play rugby - he was consistently below par since his return and Meyer made the mistake of playing him ahead of performing players.
Just look at the results of the tests he played in and then decides 
By the way Vic was so solid in the last WC - we went out of the tournament because of the geriatrics in the squad.  WWe lost half of the tests against major teams - all because of Tight 5 deficiency.  

 Vic was the star lock of Super rugby last year and was very good throughout last year. One of our most consistently good players. Has done nothing wrong this year. 

wee cc grow a backbone and suport the Boks. I understand your annoyance re the blossums match but Boks have beeb a lot better. Mike I dont know what the good Dr and Fox are smoking but its affecting the grey matter. Even 3 IQ knows our selections have been better and we should beat Walrs. Lisyening to thesr do out ic form posters one would think the Wrlsh backs are awesome snd ours useless. BWHAHAHAHAHAGA

 I disagree Beeno.