South Africa vs Tonga Predictions - Boks can go big against Tonga

South Africa have won both of their previous meetings with Tonga. The last one took place at the 2007 Rugby World Cup where the eventual champions got the fright of their lives as Tonga came withing touching distance of a win.

South Africa are the defending Rugby World Cup champions and already look like they will be there or there about again later in this tournament. They began their campaign in emphatic fashion, beating Scotland 18-3.

That was followed by a convincing 76-0 victory over Romania with a second-string side. Last week was the big clash against world No.1 Ireland. The Irish won the match 13-8 in the end.

It was probably the match of the World Cup so far and will take some beating moving forward. The Springboks dominated large periods of it, especially in the second half but lost 11 points on missed penalty and conversion kicks.

That result puts the Springboks in a dodgy spot. They have to beat Tonga with a bonus point and that should be enough to progress. However, Scotland can still beat Ireland in the final match of the group which will put everyone in jeopardy as points difference will come into play.

Jacques Nienaber will most likely select a mix-and-match side for this. This is the last fixture before the quarter-final in mid-October so resting all key players isn’t a good idea with two weeks before the next game.

Tonga came into the World Cup with high hopes of causing an upset or two. They still have a chance against South Africa, albeit unlikely.

In both of their games against Ireland and Scotland, Tonga remained within touching distance during the first half. It was in the second half that both sides pulled away to win comfortably.

While Tonga can no longer qualify, they will want to leave their mark on the competition. 

Tonga have no reason to rest players with a week between this and their last game.