Wales vs South Africa Predictions - Springboks tipped for narrow win

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 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.

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

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.

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.