Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards predicts gladiatorial battle against South ...

Shaun Edwards believes Wales’ showdown with South Africa on Saturday will prove a battle of the rugby gladiators.

The Springboks have arrived in Wales and open their autumn campaign against the European champions next weekend at the Millennium Stadium.

And Edwards believes the bruising Boks will push the Welsh side to their physical limits.

“If you like your rugby as gladiatorial, then get a ticket for Saturday because this will be no place for the faint-hearted,” predicted Edwards.

“We have to muscle up against these boys. We practice our tackling a lot but we certainly have been concentrating on that this week.

“South Africa are also a skillful team as well and they are not just based on power which they proved by scoring four tries against the All Blacks last time they played.

“They play with a lot of width as well so they have a lot of options.

“But we will definitely have to measure up their physicality.”

Gallery: How Wales have struggled in recent autumn campaigns

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Edwards has showered praise on Heyneke Meyer’s side after they finished second in the Rugby Championship behind the all-conquering All Blacks.

“Probably the best team I have ever coached against was the South African team of 2009 although there have been some great New Zealand sides,” added Edwards.

“That South African team beat New Zealand three times in the same season.

“This is the best Springboks team I have seen since and Heyneke Meyer has done a great job. So we know what we are going up against.”

Edwards also believes South Africa will have the benefit of being together for the last three months as Wales look to overcome their tag of slow starters to international campaigns.

“Their guys have been together three months so everything is stacked in their favour,” added Edwards.

“They are like a club team, like we are for Rugby World Cup every four years.

“That is not to say we don’t think we can come up to speed quicker this time.

“I feel as if our preparation is better than it was before especially last year when we were ravaged by injuries.

“We are missing a couple of our strike players in Jamie Roberts and Alex Cuthbert who will be missed but we have a couple of players to come in.

“Everyone appears to have a spring in their step.

“We had a good week’s training and the conditioners did a great job.

“So we have a bunch of highly motivated players going into this week.”

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Edwards admits that while Wales must take confidence from the exploits of their top stars in the Lions victory over Australia last summer, South Africa will pose a sterner test.

“What we have to remember is we are not playing Australia, we are playing South Africa,” said the Welsh defence coach.

“Their recent results would suggest the Springboks are a stronger team than Australia.

“We have not mentioned the Lions too much because we are more interested in what we have to do against South Africa.

“If we can get to the levels of the form Wales showed against France and England in the last Six Nations and the Lions third Test against Australia, we will be close.

“We have managed it three times this year. Against France when everyone was telling us we weren’t very good, we managed a tough hard fought win in Paris.

“The England game was what it was and the Welsh players involved in that third Lions Test in Sydney were outstanding and the Australians were chasing shadows in the last 20 minutes.”

Edwards admitted he has also been studying footage of the last Welsh contest against South Africa where Warren Gatland’s men lost 17-16 in the opening pool match of the World Cup in New Zealand two years ago.

“I watched the World Cup game the other day,” said Edwards.

“It just shows the small margins at elite level sport.

“But I would have been a lot more worried if we had lost that match by 30 points than just losing by one.

“We have had some close calls with South Africa over the years and there has only been a few lapses of concentration that have stopped us winning.”

Edwards also admitted a famous Welsh victory would be dedicated to Blues skipper Matthew Rees who is currently battling testicular cancer.

“We are all behind Matthew in his recovery and we want to support him and his family as much as possible,” added Edwards.

Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards predicts gladiatorial battle against South ...