The Springboks on Saturday reached the Rugby World Cup semi-finals after beating Wales 23-19 in a thrilling quarter-final clash at Twickenham in London.
A try five minutes from time by captain Fourie du Preez gave the Boks a victory after Wales had threatened to cause an upset.
Wales led 19-18 when Du Preez went over in the corner after a superb flick-pass from No 8 Duane Vermeulen, who had broken blind off a strong Bok scrum.
Flyhalf Handre Pollard scored all of two-time world champions South Africa's other points.
Du Preez's score gave South Africa a four-point lead and that meant Wales, with goal-kicking flyhalf Dan Biggar off the field for a head injury assessment, needed a try to regain the lead in a brutal and see-saw contest.
Biggar had a fine match, kicking 14 points and setting up Gareth Davies for Wales' only try.
Wales were forced to make a mammoth 189 tackles - 88 more than their opponents and in the end it took its toll.
The Boks will have to improve markedly though if they are to mount a serious challenge for the title.
The made several errors, on attack and defence, while Pollard also missed crucial kicks at goal.
South Africa will next play the winner of the match between France and New Zealand, which takes place in Cardiff later on Saturday.
Scorers:
South Africa:
Try: Fourie du Preez
Penalties: Handre Pollard (5)
Drop goal: Pollard
Wales:
Try: Gareth Davies
Conversion: Dan Biggar
Penalties: Biggar (3)
Drop goal: Biggar
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (captain), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.
Wales:
15 Gareth Anscombe, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Substitutes: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Tom Francis, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 James Hook
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