Ruddock brought a young team on tour without 14 players who were either injured or told to stay at home to recharge their batteries and become fully prepared for next season.

But having levelled the Test series with the Pumas in a pulsating 35-20 win in Buenos Aires on Saturday, Ruddock wants one last big push from his players as they seek to earn the Springboks respect.

He said: These boys are tired. They have had a big season. Getting an away win for the first time in a while was a big positive.

We did it on the back of 14 injuries and it was achieved under pressure because we had to turn around the defeat of the first Test.

We have given exposure at Test level to some younger players. Now, whatever we have left in the tank we have to throw it at South Africa and hope it is good enough to make them really respect Welsh rugby.

Wales have never beaten South Africa on the Springboks home soil and if they achieve that aim at Loftus Versfeld having crossed to a different continent, time zone and altitude, it will be a truly remarkable effort.

Ruddock believes such a tour schedule should never be agreed again and that Wales would have been better off playing against Argentina provinces rather than returning across the Atlantic before heading home.

He said: Against Argentina in the second Test our precision was excellent in the first-half and our game plan was right.

Winning that game has boosted our confidence. We want Tests against countries such as this  that is the only way we will get better.

We improved on the previous week, but who knows whether that will be good enough to help us win in South Africa.

At least we are going there on the back of a victory and shown we can make progress and that gives us a bit of heart going into the game against the Springboks.

With their two victories over Ireland and the fact that we have had to travel and acclimatise, South Africa will start as favourites. That is going to be a tough challenge, but I am sure the boys are going to be up for it.

There were huge improvements in defence. We got into our players after the first Test against Argentina about not muscling up, being soft and giving away soft tries.

They responded. Questions were levelled at them and they answered them a lot better than they did in the first Test.

To beat Argentina with their forward power and reputation is a great result for us, but I am disappointed we let them back in during the second-half.

The win will do us good and build confidence, but we must be pragmatic and stop giving away the advantage when we have it.