Wales 12 South Africa 34: Steyn points Boks to the future after White's departure

South Africa did not have to be the best team in the world to beat Wales to a pulp as the 2007 international season meandered to its conclusion in Cardiff, especially as the home team employed what has quickly become known as the Carson-Bridge system of defence. But only the best team in the world could have performed the deed with such stiletto-sharpened smoothness. The Springboks scored five tries at times precisely of their choosing – no mean feat for a group of players who had been on the sauce for the best part of a month – and in doing so they served due notice that they consider a successful defence of their title in 2011 to be eminently achievable.

Many of the players who participated in the victory over England in Paris last month will expect to travel to New Zealand for the next jamboree. Someone like the Bloemfontein-born midfielder Frans Steyn, only just out of his teens for Pete's sake, will certainly make the 2015 tournament, assuming his body withstands the rigours of this uniquely debilitating sport, and possibly the one in 2019 too.

The Boks feel rather cheerful about this and with good reason, for Steyn's display at the weekend was something to behold.

In the World Cup final, he dealt England an eye-watering blow by landing a penalty from the halfway line early in the second half. Three minutes into Saturday's game he lined up a similarly Herculean shot, this time from a more demanding angle. Did he look like missing? Why not ask if the Pope is a Catholic, instead? Steyn also set about Wales with ball in hand, working a neat one-two with J P Pietersen to create the first of Jaque Fourie's tries and then giving fresh impetus to a faltering move that ended with Pietersen scoring one of his own. And when he moved from centre to outside-half, Steyn's first act was to send a 60-metre punt spiralling on the long diagonal with such accuracy that Bryan Habana might easily have snaffled a five-pointer in the left corner.

There are equally high hopes for the brothers Du Plessis, who seem likely to be at the heart of the Springboks' scrummaging effort over the next few years. Jannie, the tight-head prop, is a qualified doctor who was busily performing a Caesarean section when he received news that he was required for World Cup duty in France. By all accounts, he tidied up properly before leaving. Bismarck, the hooker, is said to be a more dynamic version of the current captain, John Smit, although it was difficult to judge either way in Cardiff. On the field as a replacement in the 78th minute, Du Plessis major was back off it again in the 82nd, having been shown a yellow card.

The conditions are right for a lengthy spell of Springbok hegemony. Of course, the committee types on the South African Rugby Union have it in their power to mess things up by denying the incoming head coach, whoever he may turn out to be, a free hand on selection. Heaven knows, the outgoing coach, Jake White, had to play a very canny hand to minimise the effects of rugby politics in the rainbow nation. But the word from the republic is that some provincial sides previously dominated by Afrikaners – the Blue Bulls in Pretoria, for instance – are currently nurturing some exceptional black talent. Those of an optimistic persuasion predict that by the time the British and Irish Lions pitch up in 2009 the Test side will be genuinely multiracial.

As White could not conceivably be handing over a team in better shape, it was easy to forget on Saturday that almost exactly a year previously he was within a single Twickenham defeat of receiving South Africa's equivalent of a P45. What had he learnt in those 12 months?

"I've learnt that a man must stick by what he believes," he replied. "I stood by my captain and I stood by my players. These, together with the values and standards of Springbok rugby, were things I considered non-negotiable. I held to those ideals; they were my investment in what I was doing. Could I possibly have had a better return on that investment?"

White will take a few months out before deciding whether to seek a new job in rugby or launch himself on a career in business. "It will be fun watching my boy play rugby and listening to him tell his coaches how bad they are," he said, serenely.

His opposite number on Saturday, the caretaker coach Nigel Davies, also faces a period of uncertainty, of a less palatable variety. He would very much like to continue in the Red Dragon set-up, but that is a decision for Warren Gatland, the new head honcho from New Zealand. Given Gatland's well-earned reputation as a hardened realist, Davies might have been better advised not to pretend a record defeat was in some way encouraging.

By describing this hiding as "a performance that laid the foundations for a great Welsh team going forward", Davies was guilty of fantasising in a public place. Foundations? There were none, despite Alun-Wyn Jones' attempts to engage the brilliant flankers Schalk Burger and Juan Smith in a meaningful contest at the breakdown. As for "great"... oh, puhleeese. The Boks would have scored 50 had they been remotely interested in dragging their hungover selves around the paddock towards the end.

As Smit later confessed: "We took our foot off the pedal and we were wrong to do it, but at 29-5 up we felt we'd done the job."

Smit shared some private words with White after the game. "The only way we could repay Jake for the sacrifices he made on our behalf was to win, and win well," he said. "I'm so relieved it turned out right for him."

It turned out right for the whole of South African rugby, not just the boss. But under the circumstances Smit was justified in personalising things. The Boks have been blessed with some wonderful coaches in the relatively recent past – Kitch Christie and Nick Mallett, to name the best of them. White stands alongside those predecessors and may one day be judged to have been better. Will the next man be as good? Let's put it this way: with the players currently on the roster, he will have only himself to blame if he fails to stack up.

Wales: M Stoddart (Llanelli Scarlets); M Jones (Scarlets), S Parker, G Henson (both Ospreys), T Shanklin (Cardiff Blues); J Hook (Ospreys), D Peel (Scarlets); G Jenkins (Blues, capt), H Bennett (Ospreys), R Thomas (Newport-Gwent Dragons), A-W Jones, I Evans, C Charvis (all Ospreys), R Sowden-Taylor (Blues), J Thomas (Ospreys). Replacements: T R Thomas (Blues) for Bennett, 54; L Charteris (Dragons) for Evans, 54; M Phillips (Ospreys)

for Peel, 55; A Popham (Scarlets) for Charvis, 65; T James (Blues) for Stoddart, 72; D Jones (Ospreys) for R Thomas, 72; C Sweeney (Dragons) for Hook, 80.

South Africa: R Pienaar; J P Pietersen (both KwaZulu-Natal), J Fourie (Golden Lions), F Steyn (KwaZulu-Natal), B Habana (Blue Bulls); A Pretorius , E Januarie (both Golden Lions); C J van der Linde (Free State), J Smit (KwaZulu-Natal, capt), J du Plessis (Free State), J Botha (Blue Bulls), J Muller

(KwaZulu-Natal), S Burger (Western Province), J Smith (Free State), R Kankowski (KwaZulu-Natal). Replacements: H van der Merwe (KwaZulu-Natal) for J du Plessis, 29-35 & 68; A van den Berg (KwaZulu-Natal) for Botha, 45; W Olivier (Blue Bulls) for Pretorius, 62; A Ndungane (Blue Bulls) for Pietersen, 78; B du Plessis (KwaZulu-Natal) for Van der Linde, 78; C Jantjes (Golden Lions) for Januarie, 80; Van der Linde for Kankowski, 80.

Referee: C White (England).