{"id":259648,"date":"2025-11-03T12:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/259648\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T12:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T12:11:08","slug":"for-me-that-south-africa-game-isnt-worth-playing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/259648\/","title":{"rendered":"‘For me, that South Africa game isn\u2019t worth playing’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ex-Wales<\/a> international Richie Rees has questioned the wisdom of Wales\u2019 upcoming clash with South Africa, arguing that the fixture \u201cisn\u2019t worth playing\u201d given the scale of player unavailability facing Steve Tandy\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

The world number ones smashed Eddie Jones\u2019 Japan<\/a> 61-7 at Wembley Stadium this weekend, and fears are that a weakened Wales outfit could take a similar drubbing in Cardiff. While the game will certainly add to the WRU\u2019s coffers, Rees fears being on the end of a thumping could set an already low-on-confidence Wales back further.<\/p>\n

The match, set for November 29 at the Principality Stadium, falls outside World Rugby\u2019s official international window, meaning players based outside Wales will not be released by their clubs.<\/p>\n

That leaves Tandy without a dozen key names, including Gloucester<\/a> duo Tomos Williams<\/a> and Freddie Thomas<\/a>, Saracens<\/a> pair Rhys Carre<\/a> and Nick Tompkins<\/a>, Bath\u2019s Archie Griffin<\/a> and Louie Hennessey<\/a>, Bristol\u2019s Louis Rees-Zammit<\/a>, Exeter\u2019s Dafydd Jenkins<\/a>, Harlequins\u2019 Jarrod Evans<\/a> and Leicester\u2019s Nicky Smith.<\/p>\n

With so many absentees, Tandy is expected to turn to a clutch of uncapped or fringe regional players such as Dragons hooker Brodie Coghlan<\/a>, Cardiff loosehead Danny Southworth<\/a>, and Ospreys<\/a> forwards James Fender<\/a> and Morgan Morse.<\/p>\n

All four of Wales\u2019 professional regions are also in United Rugby Championship<\/a> action that same weekend, compounding the selection headache.<\/p>\n

Speaking on BBC\u2019s Scrum V, former Cardiff coach Rees said the game could do more harm than good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think you have to weigh up the pros and cons,\u201d said Rees. \u201cFor me, that South Africa<\/a> game isn\u2019t worth playing. We\u2019re missing that many players against the best team in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the timing and circumstances of the fixture risk undermining both the national team and the regional game.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those that they bring in, the regions are playing at the same time and those who are playing outside of Wales, we lose,\u201d he said. \u201cSo are we setting those players up to succeed, or not? Is it affecting the rest of the game?<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, someone has to say, playing this fixture \u2014 is it going to be more detrimental to the group and where we are in Welsh rugby than us just not having a fixture?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-Wales international Richie Rees has questioned the wisdom of Wales\u2019 upcoming clash with South Africa, arguing that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-259648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}