The Leek XV, which had narrowly lost last weekend (29-26) in Pretoria, took its revenge brilliantly, after being led throughout the meeting, during a match at the low level of play .

The Welsh won at the very end of the match thanks to a try, in a corner, from the substitute winger Adams - the only one in the game - transformed by the opening half Anscombe, also returned during the game.

The Boks will host the Welsh for the last time next Saturday in Cape Town.

The winning team will win the summer tour.

This is what Wayne Pivac, the Welsh coach, wanted to remember after the meeting, preferring to focus on a possible victory in the test series, rather than on the historic success of his team.

"We are mostly a bit disappointed not to be two wins away today. Now we can win the (Test) series. It will be a huge challenge and the South African team will be different. It will be an important week for us and we are looking forward to it," he said.

Executives at rest

Last Saturday in Pretoria, Leek's XV had already made the world champions more than doubt until the very end of the game, since only an error by their opener and captain Dan Biggar had allowed the Springboks to win, on a penalty from Damian Willemse (29-26).

Pivac had therefore logically only made a change in his training for the second test in Bloemfontein, while his South African counterpart Jacques Nienaber had done the opposite: only four of the twenty-three players having set foot on the lawn of Pretoria remained in the team lined up on Saturday.

Some of the executives of the world title in 2019 had thus been put to rest, the third line and usual captain of the Springboks Siya Kolisi and the scrum half Faf de Klerk in particular.

In their place: young people, including six who have never yet been selected in the green and gold jersey, well supervised by the opening half Handré Pollard, promoted captain of the Boks for the first time in his career, and the second line Eben Etzebeth, sole survivor of the winning team in Pretoria.

The meeting started well for Dan Biggar and his teammates since the opener passed a penalty from the first minute, to which Handré Pollard quickly responded (3-3, 5th).

And then for 35 minutes, nothing.

Well, not much at least, and especially no points.

The first period proved tight, locked on both sides by intractable defenses, which saw neither team take precedence over the other.

It took until the 43rd minute to see points fill the scoreboard, in this case thanks to Pollard: 6-3, then 9-3 in the 52nd.

little play

But still as little play, despite a few attempts here and there, quickly aborted however.

The Welsh, outnumbered after a yellow card inflicted on Alun Wyn Jones, who celebrated his 152nd selection in a very bad way just after entering the game, paradoxically managed to pick up the score (12-6, 66th), allowing himself to dream.

A dream come true a few minutes later, thanks to Adams, and especially Anscombe, who came on in place of Biggar and who managed to maintain his composure against the poles when he was more than 30 meters away and close to the sideline.

With this Welsh victory, the nations of the North take a dazzling revenge on those of the South.

Last week, France excepted, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa beat Ireland, England and Wales respectively.

This Saturday, and while awaiting the result of Scotland against Argentina this evening, all the nations of the North have imposed themselves, the victory of Wales even allowing France to take first place in the classification on Monday of World Rugby.

© 2022 AFP