Bizarre late twist denies Springboks coach Erasmus winning start against Wales

Rassie Erasmus was denied victory in his first match as South Africa coach in bemusing fashion as the Springboks suffered a dramatic late 22-20 defeat to Wales.

Erasmus named seven uncapped players in his first team as boss, but the inexperienced Springboks overturned a 14-3 half-time deficit to lead 20-17 with six minutes left in Washington DC.

Debutant Travis Ismaiel and Makazole Mapimpi went over before Robert du Preez’s penalty put South Africa ahead, but the RFK Stadium crowd was treated to an unexpected finale.

Du Preez saw a kick blocked from the restart following his three-pointer and, after regathering the ball in South Africa’s in-goal area, had a second attempted clearance charged down by Seb Davies, the ball deflecting off Ismaiel and into the path of Ryan Elias to touch down and hand Wales a fortuitous victory.

South Africa next face England in a three-match Test series on home soil, while Wales travel to South America for two games with Argentina.

FULL TIME | Wales close out a win in Washington in a tight affair against @Springboks to kick off their Summer Tour of the Americas. #WALvRSA pic.twitter.com/BRjhpI6jX2

— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) June 2, 2018

Hallam Amos was pinned for not releasing the ball, providing Elton Jantjies with the opportunity to break the deadlock with the boot in the 19th minute, and he succeeded where Gareth Anscombe had failed for Wales 14 minutes earlier.

Amos redeemed himself as Wales, having lost wing Steff Evans to injury moments earlier, went over for the game’s first try nine minutes before half-time, profiting after captain Ellis Jenkins, leading the side in the absence of Alun Wyn Jones, had stolen the ball at the breakdown.

Wales continued in the ascendancy and four minutes later Tomos Williams marked his debut with a try after Jenkins, Davies and George North combined.

But the Springboks were undaunted by their double-digit half-time deficit, which was reduced to four points when Ismaiel picked off an Amos pass and raced away.

Anscombe knocked over a three-pointer to make it 17-10, but the scores were levelled when South Africa capitalised after Owen Watkin was sin-binned for deliberately knocking the ball out of play, Mapimpi going over wide on the left and Jantjies converting.

The Springboks piled on the pressure and looked to have completed an impressive comeback when Du Preez converted a penalty with his first touch of the ball.

However, there was a bizarre final twist as Wales’ kick pressure paid off and Elias jumped on the loose ball after the double deflection to give Gatland’s men a third win in a row over the Springboks.

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