South Africa 23-19 Wales
by Michael McCann
at Twickenham

Wales head coach Warren Gatland says injuries were not an excuse for their 23-19 Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Springboks snatched victory through a try from skipper Fourie du Preez with just five minutes left, though Gatland did not use a lengthy injury list as a defence.

“We don’t want to make any excuses. South Africa won and we weren’t good enough to win.

“At the end of the day South Africa did what South Africa do. They got one chance and they took it and that was the result.”

South African captain Du Preez said that the Welsh players appearing tired, injected extra belief that there would be chances to score late on.

“I think around about 60 minutes I could see a few of their players were lying down.

“They were slowing the game down and I told the guys: ‘They’re out on their feet at the moment. We’ve got a lot of gas left so let’s keep on pushing them and we’ll pull it through.’”

Du Preez was part of the side that won the World Cup in 2007, with his experience and leadership cited by Springboks No 8 Duane Vermeulen as vitally important to the victory.

“You get guys who have played in some of the World Cups before and they just know what they need to do,” Vermeulen said.

“They just bring that calmness for some of the youngsters, some of the guys who are in their first World Cup.

“Fourie is an inspirational leader, a guy who doesn’t really say much but leads by example and you could just see that at the end, with how he scored that try.”

South Africa advance to a semi-final against New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday while Wales go home, something captain Sam Warburton admitted was hard to take.

“It’s a quiet changing room — it’s hard to find the words. It’s all so raw. It wasn’t a case of one game too far.

“It feels premature with two weeks of the competition left. My body feels ready to go for another two weeks.

“We’ve been together since June, working hard together with all those gruelling camps and preparation but now it’s over. Done and dusted.”