Four minutes on the clock at Kings Park, and Jasper Wiese was already through the middle of the Welsh defence. His brother Cobus had done the damage first, bursting through a couple of tackles to open the door, and Jasper finished the job, barging over for the opening try of a 43-0 rout in Durban.
The scoreline suggests it was easy. It wasn’t. Erasmus said as much afterward, admitting the Springboks had to grind for long stretches on a greasy Kings Park surface before the game opened up. It was 14-0 for a long time, he said, before South Africa finally pulled clear. Jasper Wiese’s stat line from the official Springboks graphic tells you exactly where that grind was won.
THE STAT LINE
One try, the opener, finished off his brother’s break inside the first four minutes.
Ten ball carries, the highest workload of any Bok forward, consistently the first receiver looking to get over the gain line on a slippery, heavy pitch.
Sixty-one metres made, a shade over six metres a carry, an efficient return in conditions that usually punish ball-in-hand rugby.
Nine tackles, a solid defensive shift in a match South Africa dominated territorially and rarely had to defend for long periods.
Four defenders beaten, a 40 percent strike rate on his carries, the number that separates a battering ram from a genuine line-breaker.
High volume, high efficiency, low fuss. That’s the profile of a No 8 doing the ugly work that doesn’t always make the highlight reel, even when one of his carries did.
There’s a deeper story behind that opening try, too. A year ago, almost to the week, the Wiese brothers were meant to share a Springbok field for the first time when Cobus came off the bench to make his Test debut against Italy in Gqeberha. Jasper Wiese never got to see it up close. He’d been sent off in the 21st minute for a headbutt on Danilo Fischetti, and watched his brother’s first cap from the sidelines instead of alongside him.
Erasmus called it sad at the time, saying it would have been wonderful for Jasper Wiese to share that moment on the field. This time, in Durban, they finally got it. Cobus creating, Jasper finishing, both of them on the same paddock when it happened.
“Some players are built for highlight reels. Jasper Wiese is built for the ugly minutes nobody remembers, the ones that win you the game anyway. Watching him and Cobus combine for that try was the kind of moment this sport is made for.” – Jay
Erasmus made a point of singling out the brothers afterward, praising their physical impact alongside the contributions of Paul de Villiers and a clutch of Bok debutants. It wasn’t the only positive he took from the performance. He also confirmed no injuries were picked up in the match, calling it the first time in a while he could say that after a Test.
South Africa scored seven tries without reply, extending their unbeaten Nations Championship run to three wins from three and stretching their overall winning streak to eleven Tests. They sit top of the Southern Hemisphere table heading into the next window. Wales, beaten 73-0 in Cardiff last November, have now gone scoreless against the Boks in back-to-back meetings.
The Boks now turn to a two-Test tour of Argentina, starting in Buenos Aires on August 8, before returning home to prepare for the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against New Zealand in August and September. Erasmus is sending a squad of 26 across, with a smaller group staying back to start work on the All Blacks.
Whether Jasper Wiese is among the travelling group or not, Saturday in Durban was a reminder of what he brings when he’s on the field, and what it meant to finally be there with his brother.
📸 Images via SA Rugby / Getty Images / Gallo Images
