Graham Henry has defended his decision to substitute Neil Jenkins after Wales slipped to a 23-13 injury-time defeat
against South Africa at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Wales' coach Henry took Jenkins off midway through the second half with his
team trailing 13-10, but replacement Arwel Thomas was unable to provide the spark to take the Welsh to victory.

South Africa finished with a scoring flourish, notching up 10 points in injury time to destroy Welsh hopes of repeating their 1999 triumph over the same opponents in the new stadium's opening game.

``Arwel has won some close games for his club Swansea in recent weeks. We were behind on the scoreboard, and we thought that he might have produced some magic for us,'' Henry said.
``A couple of drop goals might have turned it for us, but to be honest, we
should have put South Africa away given the territorial advantage we had in the
third quarter.Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and yes, I am feeling really guilty here. At the end of the day though, you have to go with your gut feeling.''

Despite a dreadfully cut-up pitch, well below an acceptable international standard, both teams dug deep into their reserves of character and commitment, producing a thrilling game which was undecided until the very end.

Centre Scott Gibbs' first half try helped establish a 10-6 interval lead for the home side, but the Springboks reserved their best for last, wing Breyton Paulse touching down after Braam van Straaten had kicked South Africa into the lead.

``I am very proud of the commitment all the guys gave against one of the best
teams in the world, and we were perhaps unlucky to lose,'' Henry added.``We lacked composure in attack, and didn't take opportunities that presented
themselves through our territorial advantage.I am very disappointed that we didn't win, and maybe there is a feeling that we are not quite good enough to beat the best, but we've got to get over that bump.We must have the self-belief, and certainly, we have come a long way during these last three matches against South Africa, Samoa and the USA.''

Wales captain Scott Quinnell, who had a fine game, added: ``We proved for 80 minutes today that we could match one of the top three sides in the world.We played well enough to compete with them but we have got to develop that little bit extra that is required to win these games.''