A former Wales international says it’s maybe not the smartest idea to face the world champion Springboks later this month.
Barely a week after the Boks blew Japan away 61-7 at Wembley, there’s growing unease in Wales that their side could suffer a similar fate when the world champions head to Cardiff on 29 November.
Former Wales scrumhalf Richie Rees believes the Test “isn’t worth playing”, warning that it could further damage the confidence of a team already struggling for direction under new coach Steve Tandy.
“You have to weigh up the pros and cons,” Rees told BBC Scrum V. “For me, that South Africa game isn’t worth playing. We’re missing that many players against the best team in the world.”
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The match falls outside World Rugby’s international window, meaning Tandy won’t have access to his overseas-based stars. That list of absentees includes Gloucester pair Tomos Williams and Freddie Thomas, Saracens duo Rhys Carre and Nick Tompkins, and Louis Rees-Zammit, who remains tied up with Bristol.
It leaves Wales scraping the barrel, with the coach expected to turn to a clutch of uncapped or fringe players, while all four Welsh regions will be playing URC fixtures that same weekend.
Rees fears that an understrength team facing a full-strength Bok side – fresh from hammering Japan and fielding stars like Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Damian Willemse – could take another psychological hit. Although, the Boks could also be fielding a much-changed team for the same reasons.
“Are we setting those players up to succeed, or not?” Rees asked. “At some point, someone has to say whether playing this fixture is going to be more detrimental to Welsh rugby than just not having a game at all.”
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The Welsh Rugby Union will no doubt welcome the financial injection from a bumper Millennium Stadium crowd, but former players like Rees are sounding the alarm – warning that a hiding from the Boks could cost far more in the long run.
Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
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