Wales vs South Africa Predictions - Springboks tipped for narrow win

Ralph Staniforth

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Last updated: 16 Aug 2023

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Ralph Staniforth 16 Aug 2023

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Watch Wales vs South Africa in a Rugby World Cup warm-up fixture on Saturday (16:15 SAST)
Springboks have won 4 of their last 5 games against the hosts
Can Wales toppled the world champions?

Expired

Tight contest predicted for Principality Stadium (Getty Images)

Wales vs South Africa Preview

Recent history suggests this will be a tight encounter. Much depends on what team Gatland selects, but I am backing the visitors to win by less than 8 points.

Wales vs South Africa Preview
Head to Head
Wales Form
Wales Injuries & News
South Africa Form
South Africa Injuries & News

Wales beat England in their last home match.
South Africa have won 4 of their last 5 matches against Wales.
South Africa have won 3 of their last 4 matches.
South Africa are world champions.
There has been a losing margin of 9 or less in 7 of the last 8 matches between Wales and South Africa.

Head to Head

South Africa have won four of their last five matches against Wales. They last met in 2022 where South Africa won the third Test 30-14 on home soil. Wales did win the second Test against a largely second-string Springboks side.

Wales Form

Wales have had an atrocious few years since the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In the 2023 Six Nations, they managed to beat only Italy, finishing fifth on the table.

Fortunately, Warren Gatland has seemingly managed to galvanise the side ahead of the World Cup. In the last two weeks, they have played England twice, once at home and once away.

Wales beat England 20-9 at the Principality before losing out 19-17 at Twickenham last week. However, Wales did field a largely second-string outfit last week and arguably should have won the game. Poor errors cost them in the end.

Wales Injuries & News

Gatland has not announced his side, but I do expect a vastly different side to last weekend.

South Africa Form

South Africa are a bit unpredictable at the moment. They wiped the floor with Australia at home in the Rugby Championship but then suffered a 35-20 defeat to New Zealand the following week.

The Springboks then narrowly defeated Argentina at home in the final Rugby Championship match before struggling past the same opposition away a week later.

Perhaps more than any other side, South Africa does tend to make huge amounts of changes and seldom field their strongest available side. That could be the reason for the inconsistency, however, with the World Cup looming large, they need to start getting results.

South Africa Injuries & News

Jacques Nienaber has announced his side and it is very close to full strength. Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman partner as locks which is probably the one area not at full strength.

The big news is that Siya Kolisi returns from injury for his first game in months.

Verdict

Wales v South Africa

Wales can get within the 8 point handicap in this clash against South Africa.

Wales +8

Handicap

@-109.89 - 3 Units

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