Four Dragons - Ben Carter, Matthew Screech, Rio Dyer and Aaron Wainwright - all featured as Wales lost out 41-13 to South Africa in the Qatar Airways Cup at Twickenham Stadium.
Warren Gatland's inexperienced and experimental side suffered a seventh successive international defeat, but put in a spirited show in the English capital.
Wales fans would have feared the worst when their side were trailing 14-3 after 15 minutes, with Dyer and Wainwright shown yellow cards.
But inspired by captain Dewi Lake, who scored a try, Wales battled back to only trail by a point at half-time.
However, a scoreless second half for Wales saw the Springboks pull clear as Makazole Mapimpi, Bongi Mbonambi and Edwill van der Merwe added scores in South Africa's first game since defeating New Zealand in the World Cup final in October 2023.
Wales will now travel to face Australia in a two-Test tour.
