Dan Biggar was bemused by criticism of Wales' approach to their first Test in South Africa, wondering if they were expected to "just roll the carpet out".
Wales came agonisingly close to a famous win in Pretoria, ultimately going down 32-29 following four costly yellow cards – including one for Biggar.
After playing a brief period with 12 men, Wales had 13 on the pitch when an unlikely try gave Biggar a conversion that would have secured an improbable late lead.
Instead, he missed the posts and was then punished for a knock-on at the other end, allowing Damian Willemse to settle the match from the tee.
There would have undoubtedly been some relief in the Springboks camp as they were ultimately able to celebrate following their first home game in front of a crowd since winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Trailing 18-3 at half-time, South Africa captain Siya Kolisi acknowledged afterwards: "They [Wales] got under our skin."
There were multiple confrontations between the two sets of players off the ball, and Kolisi added his team "did a couple of things out of character".
When Biggar subsequently faced the media, he could not understand why Wales were expected to shoulder the blame for incidents of this nature.
"I don't know what the referee expected us to do," he said. "Just come here, lie down and give South Africa everything their own way?
"From our point of view, we wanted to try to get in their faces, get in their faces and not take a backwards step. That's part of the game.
"We were coming here, and if you stand off South Africa out here, then you'll get steam-rolled pretty quickly. You need some aggression and competitiveness and get into it.
"I didn't see any issue. They were just as niggly, competitive and as abrasive as we were. From our point of view, that was perfect for us.
"The decisions will be analysed. But from our point of view, I don't understand why people are bothered about it.
"It's a Test match, and we're away from home against the world champions. I'm not quite sure what people expected from us, just roll the carpet out and applaud them off the pitch?
"I don't know what the issue is. It's a Test match and we were more than happy to get stuck into them. That's what Test matches are about.
"I really don't understand. I see it as a non-event. That's exactly what you want from a Test match; you want it confrontational, you want it aggressive.
"There was no dirty play or anything. We just went at it and got confrontational. It worked for us, certainly in the first half.
"I've got no issue whatsoever. Whatever happens on the field, you shake hands afterwards, and there is absolutely zero issue."
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Chase: Allowing West Indies to play 'natural game' crucial in South Africa win
Roston Chase insisted that allowing his West Indies team to play their natural game was crucial in securing an emphatic series win over South Africa.
In a rain-affected third T20I on Tuesday, the Windies emerged victors by eight wickets as they chased down the Proteas revised 108 run target in just 9.2 overs.
The visitors reached 23 runs without loss before play was stopped at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, with Tristan Stubbs scoring 40 runs from 15 balls upon play resuming.
Aiden Markram (20) and Reeza Hendricks (27) also contributed to South Africa's total, with Romario Shepherd ending with figures of 2-14 for the Windies.
Despite the early loss of Alick Athanaze (one) after just the fourth ball, Shai Hope (42) and Nicholas Pooran (35) handed the hosts the advantage.
Shimron Hetmyer's 31 from 17 balls secured the triumph, with West Indies captain Chase pleased with his team-mates playing their natural game in the shorter format.
"It was a good one [leading this time]. We wanted to win the series 3-0. I just asked the boys to give me victory because you want to start well," Chase said.
"The powerplay, we were doing well. I just thought that today the guys came out and applied pressure early.
"In a shortened game, we want guys to go and play their natural game. Guys came out and played brilliantly."
Shepherd was named the man of the match with his impressive bowling display, securing the wickets of Ryan Rickelton (27) and Markram.
The 29-year-old was not part of the Windies squad for the T20 World Cup in June, but was happy to exact their three-wicket defeat against the Proteas at the tournament.
"It's just about sticking to the process. Today was quite difficult because of the wet ball. The wicket was sticky," Shepherd said.
"I think I'm 70% there. You are never 100% in T20 cricket. To come and clean sweep the team which knocked us out of the World Cup was great."
West Indies complete 3-0 series sweep over South Africa with comfortable eight-wicket victory in rain-affected third T20I in Tarouba
Hosts West Indies secured a 3-0 series sweep over visiting South Africa with an eight-wicket victory in a rain-affected third T20 International at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Tarouba on Tuesday.
In the match that was shortened to 13 overs per side, the West Indians restricted to South Africa to 108-4 from their 13 overs thanks to an excellent 2-14 from two overs for man-of-the-match Romario Shepherd.
Tristan Stubbs was the main scorer for South Africa with 40 from 15 balls including five fours and three sixes while Ryan Rickelton made 27 off 24 balls at the top of the innings.
Chasing a revised target of 116 in their 13 overs, the hosts made light work of it, using only 9.2 overs to secure the win and the series sweep.
Man-of-the-series Shai Hope led the way with 42* off 24 balls while Nicholas Pooran continued the excellent form he’s shown in the last few months all over the world with 35 off just 13 balls including two fours and four sixes.
Shimron Hetmyer also looked good for his 31* off 17 balls.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
