THE POST-MATCH script was a familiar one at the Millennium Stadium as Wales bemoaned their conquerors' advantage in preparation, writes Chris Kirwan.

Last year interim coach Rob Howley felt that Argentina had a headstart on them, this time it was his boss Warren Gatland who was frustrated about South Africa being used to the Test scene.

The Springboks headed to Cardiff on the back of the Rugby Championship, which ended with their sensational game against New Zealand on October 5.

Wales had spent the build-up to the Boks game hailing their ideal preparation, which was aided by their squad having at least a fortnight's rest from RaboDirect Pro12 action.

But Gatland stated that the gap from regional rugby to the power and speed of the Test scene is too big.

"South Africa and the other southern hemisphere players get to play at that intensity all the time whether it is in the Rugby Championship or Super Rugby," he said.

"We get maybe four or five chances and it is not the fitness or physicality, it's the chance to play at a tempo in which speed of thought is key.

"It takes us a little bit of time to readjust and get used to it. For me that is the big difference, that is the advantage they have over us.

"Talk to our players about coming out of club and regional rugby (into Test rugby) and they will tell you it's like chalk and cheese.

"I wish we could play South Africa next week, playing the best in the world is what prepares us.

"Autumn has become like a pre-season for us ahead of the Six Nations; we don't want it to be like that, we want to hit the ground running.

"But we will learn. We are disappointed but if we can win three out of four in this series we'll be reasonably satisfied."

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer was full of praise for the way that his charges withstood Wales' fightback from 17-3 down.

He said: "It was a really tough encounter and we expected a very physical game. I am very proud of the guys.

"It could have gone either way but we were really focused and very disciplined and it shows a lot of experience to score three tries against a team like that.

"We made a huge step up in our defence, we took every chance we got and scored some great tries and you could see our experience.

"There was no panic, in the second half Wales played well but we kept our defensive lines."