Rugby World Cup 2015: Winners and Losers from South Africa vs. Wales

Southern Hemisphere one, Northern Hemisphere nil.

South Africa overcame Wales 23-19 at Twickenham, London, to become the first team through to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup 2015.

Wales held a 19-18 lead going into the last five minutes, when Duane Vermeulen freed Fourie du Preez from the back of a scrum to race untouched over the line.

It broke a massive second-half defensive effort from Wales, who had to soak up pressure for much of the period after half-time.

Here are the winners and losers from a tense 80 minutes at Twickenham.

Winner: Dan Biggar

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Dan Biggar had another outstanding game for Wales, kicking 14 points and creating a brilliant try for Gareth Davies in the first half.

He missed only once from the tee, hitting the post with an effort in the first half.

And he was clearly devastated when taken off inside the final few minutes as a result of a bang to the head.

Biggar's display prompted former England hooker Brian Moore to tweet that Biggar was probably "the best ten in the world at the moment."

Loser: Welsh Penalty Count

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Wales gave South African fly-half Handre Pollard four easy penalties in the first half that undermined much of their good work.

Of the two sides, Wales showed more adventure and created more try-scoring chances, bagging the half's only five-pointer. But they shot themselves in the foot with daft penalties coughed up from restarts, which handed the initiative straight back to the Springboks.

On the balance of play in the second half, their slender half-time lead was never going to be enough, but they will reflect on the first 40 minutes as where this game was lost.

Winner: Schalk Burger

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The official Man of the Match award went to South African flanker Schalk Burger, which was hard to disagree with.

He carried the ball 26 times for a gain of 55 metres and made a team-leading 10 tackles.

His carries set the tone for the way South Africa played in the second half, testing the resolve of the Welsh defence time and time again and earning penalty chances for his fly-half.

Handre Pollard missed two of them, which was a waste of Burger and his fellow forwards' hard work.

Inevitably, it was he who stripped the ball at the death to end the game.

Loser and Winner: The Drop Goal

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At last, we have seen more drop goals in this World Cup.

Dan Biggar calmly manouevered his men into a position to allow him to slot one in the first half, and Handre Pollard was on target from hand in the second.

But Wales should have used the tactic more in the second half when they had rare moments in South African territory. They weren't getting many chances and needed to convert the little territory they had.

The drop goal, as Jonny Wilkinson said before the game on ITV, is a great way to score when you might not be playing that well.

It should be used more and most likely will be before this weekend is over.

Winner: Iron Man Dan Lydiate

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Dan Lydiate made 21 tackles in a huge defensive performance for Wales.

The Ospreys man was never going to have a problem meeting the Springbok muscle with some of his own, and he smashed into their heavy hitters all afternoon at Twickenham.

And he achieved all of that with a metal plate in his cheek, inserted following a blow to his eye socket sustained against Fiji, per WalesOnline.

Steely Dan, you might say.