SA Rugby
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber got the answers he was looking for as well as the heartache of an agonizingly late defeat by Wales as his team slipped to a 13-12 defeat at a packed Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday night.
The result means the Series is tied at 1-1 and sets up a deciding 3rd Test at DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.
A sold-out, 46,000-strong crowd saw the Boks let slip a nine-point lead in the final quarter.
Wales match-winning try by Josh Adams, and nerveless touchline conversion by Gareth Anscombe, came in the 78th minute.
Nienaber believes that despite the loss... it was worth fielding a generally inexperienced team from the side which won the first test at Loftus.
Nienaber gave six players Test debuts in a team that showed 14 changes from the starting line-up that had beaten Wales the weekend before, with only lock Eben Etzebeth starting both Tests.
"We said from the start that we had a plan for 42 players." said Nienaber.
"If we had gone the conservative route and stuck with the same team - and let's say we didn't win the test match tonight - then we would probably have never given the other guys an opportunity.
"There was risk, but the answers you get out of it outweigh the risk."
