Wales on the cusp of greatness

Although games against the southern hemisphere giants were a comparative rarity in those heady days of the seventies, Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams and Phil Bennett still couldn’t get one over the likes of New Zealand and South Africa in a Wales jersey.

Wales' recent golden generation have won three Grand Slams over the last seven years to equal the hat trick achieved between 1971 and 1978 but they know more than anyone they have to start proving they can beat the Springboks, All Blacks and Australia.

And despite the Boks being installed as clear favourites with the bookies at 4/7 and some offering punters 17/10 to back Wales, this is definitely one Sam Warburton’s men can win.

South Africa are a top side and are steadily improving under the generalship of the passionate Heyneke Meyer, playing some attractive, high tempo running rugby to compound their trademark juggernaut pack.

And much of the talk in the build-up has surrounded their vastly experienced and talented backs like wing Bryan Habana, skipper and centre Jean de Villiers and the excellent scrum-half Fourie du Preez, an attacking threat behind boasting an average of 64 caps per man.

But if you look at the battle to come up front, where games are almost always won, Wales might have parity with the Springboks for possibly one of the few times in the 107-year history between the two.

Wales’ forwards have 411 caps between them while the South Africans have considerably less with 220.

One of the reasons for this is visiting tighthead prop Frans Malherbe making his debut, up against Gethin Jenkins, playing in his 99th Test match for Wales, and the hosts will no doubt seek to exploit the 22-year-old.

Adam Jones will be looking to tame the ‘Beast’ that is Tendai Mtawarira on the other side of the scrum in what will be an intriguing battle as will the clash between arguably two of the finest hookers around in Richard Hibbard and Bismarck du Plessis.

South Africa don’t seem to have quite the same menace of old in the second rows with the gruesome twosome of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield not around this time, although young Eben Etzebeth and Flip van der Merwe are both real handfuls.

The back row tussle could be another box office affair, with some imperious players on show.

World class openside flanker Warburton is up against Bath’s highly regarded Francois Louw, ex-Newport Gwent Dragons favourite Dan Lydiate is hoping to get the better of man mountain Willem Alberts on the blindside who stands the same 6ft 4in but has a stone advantage, weighing in at 18st 13lb, while star number eight Toby Faletau takes on Duane Vermeulen, another colossus who can still shift despite being only half a stone lighter than Alberts.

Wales’ pack has been superb in 2013 since recovering from the opening Six Nations defeat to Ireland.

Their eight went to Paris and helped lay the platform for an unlikely win against all the odds over France, bullied an Italian side away who toppled both the French and Irish in Rome, strangled an improving Scotland side in Murrayfield before they got the better of England, depriving them of the Grand Slam and Six Nations in style.

They then formed the core of the British and Irish Lions forward platform in the summer which delivered the tourists’ first series victory since 1997.

In the third and last Test against Australia, with captain Warburton absent after injuring his hamstring with a man of the match performance in the 16-15 defeat a week before, five Welsh forwards stared the showdown which saw them smash the Wallabies 41-16.

Adam Jones, Hibbard, Alun Wyn Jones, Lydiate and Faletau, while Justin Tipuric played his part as a second half replacement on the openside for Sean O’Brien.

Coach Robert Howley believes victory today would be bigger than Wales’ solitary triumph over the Boks in 1999 in which he captained the side. It would be more than that. It could be the biggest in their history.