Your rugby evening headlines for Sunday, July 3.
Lydiate relishing unexpected chance
Back-rower Dan Lydiate admits he didn't expect to be on Wales' summer tour of South Africa and 'felt every hit' in a bruising encounter with the Boks.
The 34-year-old made his return to the Test arena after almost 18 months away following serious knee injury in the 2021 Six Nations. But relished one of the liveliest atmosphere's he admits he's every experienced.
“Yeah it’s always a massive honour," he said after the 32-29 defeat. "I didn’t expect to be called up for the summer tour to be honest. But I’ve been given the opportunity and it was class to wear the jersey once again.
READ MORE : Jiffy identifies 23-year-old as next Wales captain after clues evident in clash against South Africa
“I just wasn’t really thinking about the tour to be honest. It was a shock but it was nice to be called back up.
“I enjoyed it. There were some big shots out there and I felt every single one of them. That’s what it’s all about, it’s what they pride themselves on.
“I thought in the first half we stopped the maul quite well but then in the second half they won that arm wrestle. It’s something we’ll need to tighten up on. As always, discipline becomes a factor. We need to watch the video back and see where the infringements were."
Wales skipper called a packed Loftus Versfeld one of the best stadiums he's every witnessed and Lydiate agreed: “I stood next to Dan during the anthem and I was thinking exactly the same thing. Obviously, the Principality Stadium is always my number one but when the South Africans started singing their national anthem I just had to take a moment.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere. You play rugby to play in these games and that was amazing.”
Kolisi admits to acting out of character
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi admits to acting 'out of character' after getting frustrated with how things were going in his side's dramatic win over Wales.
The visitors led 18-3 at half-time after the Springboks fired blanks throughout the first half. They were unable to get any fluidity in their attacks and Wales defended their driving maul extremely well.
His side stuck to task and eventually came out on the right side of a 32-29 thriller but it was not easy going.
After the match he said: "Yeah those things happen in a game. I think they got under our skin and things weren't going our way in the first half. We couldn't get the maul going.
"I did a couple of things out of character but what they wanted to do they did in that first half. Everything was on their terms, our mauls weren't really going.
"But there wasn't panic. We didn't feel at any stage that there was no way we were going to come back into the game because we know what we're capable of.
"We stuck to it, we went maul after maul. We wanted it to work at the beginning but it didn't. After a while it did pay off."
England lock escapes citing for face shove and hair pull
By Duncan Bech, PA
England second row Jonny Hill has escaped a citing for shoving an Australian opponent in the face in Saturday's first Test defeat.
Hill forcefully struck Darcy Swain with the palms of both hands early in the match as part of an on-field feud with the Wallabies lock that reached boiling point in the 34th minute.
They clashed in the maul, with Hill pulling Swain's hair, and when they continued their tussle off the ball the Australian lost his cool by headbutting his rival.
Swain was sent off while Hill was shown a yellow card and head coach Eddie Jones later denied that England had deliberately set out out to provoke the Wallabies forward.
The citing officer has declined to trigger disciplinary proceedings against Hill after deciding his shove to the head was not a red-card offence.
Swain, meanwhile, faces a hearing on Tuesday to determined what sanction he receives.
Jones has also evaded any investigation into his comments that referee James Doleman "evened up" the contest as a result of showing Swain a red card.
Farrell takes positives from Ireland defeat
By Ed Elliot, PA
Head coach Andy Farrell is confident Ireland can quickly learn lessons from being dismantled by New Zealand in order to remain alive in the series.
The Irish already face an uphill task to salvage their three-Test tour after slipping to a comprehensive 42-19 defeat in Auckland.
Ian Foster's formidable All Blacks ran in six tries on Saturday, including four in the space of just 18 first-half minutes, to maintain their country's remarkable 28-year unbeaten streak at Eden Park.
Despite falling well short of snapping that run, Farrell insists his squad are far from feeling dejected ahead of next week's crucial clash in Dunedin.
"You don't get many opportunities to break a record; it's an outstanding record and you can see why they hold that," he said.
"We're gutted to lose but, having said that, the players know what they did well and they know how the game flowed and things that we need to fix to stay in a series next week.
"It isn't a dejected changing room; it's one that will dust itself off, learn the lessons and attack next week."
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