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Gatland pleased with Parkes impact in Springboks win
By Jack Davies
Wales coach Warren Gatland was delighted with the impact made by Hadleigh Parkes after the Scarlets centre scored two tries on debut against South Africa.
The New Zealand-born Scarlets man only became eligible to represent his adopted country on Saturday, but made an instant impression, crossing twice in an impressive first-half performance from the home side.
And Gatland was satisfied that the 30-year-old had grasped his chance to impress in a Wales shirt.
"I said just make the most of the opportunity and he did that," Gatland said after the 24-22 win.
"He carried well, defended well. He's an experienced player.
"We knew where he'd come from and, even though it was his first cap, I said he needed to have some leadership out there in terms of taking control.
"He's got a lot of rugby under his belt and he's familiar with a lot of those Scarlets players that were out there.
"He's done great. A fantastic pick-up for the first try and a brilliant pass from Taulupe [Faletau] for the second.
"He's carried a couple of nice little kicks through.
"He's '100 per cent', he was saying in the changing rooms, so he's pretty happy with himself."
Wales opened up a 21-3 lead over the visitors, with Scott Williams also going over, but were left clinging on to victory – their third in a row at home to the Springboks – by full-time.
"There's a bit of relief," added Gatland. "We started so well and looked comfortable.
"Then five minutes before half-time and five minutes after half-time weren't the best period of the game for us.
"I think we deserved that and we're pleased with lots of things.
"Given the injuries that we've had and the young players that we've blooded, there's lots of things that we can take out of this campaign in terms of developing some depth in the squad.
"It was pretty nailbiting but that's what sport's about. I'm pleased we came out on the right side."
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Latest Comments
Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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