Match Centre: South Africa 41-13 Wales

South Africa 41-13 Wales, Twickenham

World Champions South Africa marked the year with a win as they defeated Wales 41-13 in the encounter at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

Warren Gatland's men were without a number of players as the game was played outside the traditional international window while there were also injury casualties including Jac Morgan, who co-captained them in the World Cup.

It took the Springboks just two minutes to open the account as Jesse Kriel and Makazole Mapimpi combined to send the former over the line and Jordan Hendrikse kicked the conversion to make it 7-0.

Wales were given an opportunity as Francois Mostert was penalised for not rolling away and Sam Costelow kicked the three-pointer to reduce the gap down to four points.

Gatland's men suffered a double setback as Rio Dyer was sin-binned for an offside and in the 15th minute Aaron Wainwright became the second Wales player to be yellow carded for collapsing a maul that also resulted in a penalty try for the hosts making it 14-3.

Wales struck back around the half hour mark as Aphelele Fassi was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle and they immediately seized on the advantage as Dewi Lake went past Eben Etzebeth to touchdown and Costelow followed with a conversion and a penalty goal making it a 14-13 scoreline heading into the break.

The Springboks struck early in the second half as Makazole Mapimpi overcame a scare of a forward pass to score and Hendrikse kicked the conversion and followed with a penalty goal to make it 24-13. The 64th minute saw Harri O’Connor penalised for not holding on and Sacha Mngomezulu made no mistake with a long-range penalty goal to make it 27-13.

With 11 minutes left in the game, Bongi Mbonambi dived at the back of a driving maul for his 14th international try making it 34-13 and any chance of a Wales comeback was put off with player-of-the match Edwill Van der Merwe on his debut for the side dotted down to complete a convincing victory for Erasmus' men.

Team line up:

South Africa: Aphelele Fassi; Edwill van der Merwe, Jesse Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen, Makazole Mapimpi; Jordan Hendrikse, Faf de Klerk; Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, Franco Mostert, Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt), Evan Roos.

Reserves: Bongi Mbonambi, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Frans Malherbe, Salmaan Moerat, Ben-Jason Dixon, Grant Williams, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian de Allende.

Wales: Cameron Winnett; Liam Williams, Owen Watkin, Mason Grady, Rio Dyer; Sam Costelow, Ellis Bevan; Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake (capt), Keiron Assiratti, Matthew Screech, Ben Carter, Taine Plumtree, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright.

Reserves: Evan Lloyd, Kemsley Mathias, Harri O'Connor, James Ratti, Mackenzie Martin, Gareth Davies, Eddie James, Jacob Beetham.