Josh Adams: South Africa clash is Wales' ultimate Nations Championship test

Josh Adams believes Wales' daunting Nations Championship fixture against South Africa will be the litmus test of their progress under Steve Tandy.

The Welsh squad have travelled to Durban for their final game of the 2025-26 season after suffering a 35-21 defeat by Argentina in San Juan.

Wales took on the Pumas after wins against Italy in the Six Nations and Fiji in the Nations Championship opener, either side of a success against the Barbarians in an uncapped fixture.

They were given a reality check by Argentina and now face the toughest challenge of all when going up against the world champions at Kings Park on Saturday (16:40 BST).

"There's probably no harder test," admitted wing Adams. "It's certainly something that will test this group and it'll probably answer a lot of questions about where we are.

"How can we react from the Argentina game? The physicality, contact area, movement is all magnified against a team like South Africa so we have to be at the races.

"We can talk about lots of areas of the game, but we've got to move quickly, hit hard and stay in the fight. Those are the simple things we need to work on this week."

Wales showed spirit to stay in the contest against Argentina and were hunting a pair of bonus points with the clock in the red.

But the Pumas were convincing winners when responding to an opening round defeat by Scotland.

"We were just slightly off it around our physicality, first time tackles, speed around the ruck – the basics where you need to be at it at this level," said Adams.

"We still managed to find ourselves in the Test match and it was going back and forth until they pulled away with a couple of scores before half-time.

"Argentina are a good team when they stay on top of you and if you are not at it in the areas that I have mentioned – and with your discipline – then teams will punish you."

Wales face a South Africa side who have started the Nations Championship with victories against England and Scotland.

The Springboks demolished Tandy's side 73-0 at Principality Stadium in November, when the hosts were stretched due to the fixture being outside of World Rugby's window.

Wayne Pivac's Wales won for the first time on South African soil in the second of three Tests in 2022, when Adams scored the crucial try. Four years on, being competitive would be considered a success in Durban.

Wales again have to spend almost a day travelling with a journey of more than 5,000 miles that crosses five time zones.

Adams has dismissed this issue after Scotland made the same trip and almost shocked the Springboks before losing 42-28.

"Every team has to travel," said Adams.

"Scotland made the journey and they were in the Test for most of the game. So there'll be no excuses."