Cape Town stages the Round 4 Rugby Championship clash between South Africa and New Zealand on Saturday and the Springboks are favourites to take another step towards the title.
South Africa v New Zealand, Saturday 7th September, Cape Town, KO 17:00 (South African time)
Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU) , Jordan Way (RA)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
Weather Forecast – Cape Town
Rugby Championship 2024 Outright Betting
Following the Round 3 results the Boks are 3 wins from 3 and they have 14 log points. The other nations all have 1 win and 2 defeats against their name and New Zealand have 6 points, Argentina 5 points and Australia have 4 points.
The outright betting has South Africa as 1 / 10 favourites to win the Rugby Championship title with New Zealand at 5/1, Argentina are 66/1 and Australia are 200/1
(Prices World Sports Betting).
South Africa:
The Boks started the Round 3 clash with New Zealand in Johannesburg at around 6.5 point favourites on the handicap and they came from behind to edge the contest 31-27. South Africa scored 3 tries through Mbonambi, Smith and Williams and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu landed 2 conversions and 3 penalties. New Zealand led by a single point at half time and that advantage grew as they led 27-17 with just over 10 minutes remaining but South Africa came storming back after their opponents had a man sent to the bin.
Earlier the Boks completed back to back wins over the Wallabies in Australia. In Round 2 in Perth they came out on top 30-12, covering a pre-match handicap that settled at around 12.5 points. In the opening round in Brisbane the Boks were even more convincing winners, 33-7, again covering a minus handicap of around 10.5 points.
After this South Africa will be in Argentina in Round 5 and their final match will see them host Los Pumas in Nelspruit.
New Zealand:
Codie Taylor , Caleb Clarke (twice) and Jordie Barret scored the 4 All Blacks' tries at Ellis Park last week, only 2 of which were converted by McKenzie who also landed a penalty. Ofa Tu’ungafasi picked up a yellow card on 68 minutes and the All Blacks paid the price.
New Zealand's first two matches came at home to Argentina and delivered vastly contrasting results. In the opening round in Wellington with the defending champions starting as favourites on the handicap at around 16.5 points they finished beaten, 38-30. In Round 2 in Auckland New Zealand bounced back and in some style, running out 42-10 winners (35-3 half time).
Looking ahead New Zealand will visit the Wallabies in Round 5 before hosting the same opponent in the return in the final round.
Team News
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 – Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Kwagga Smith, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Lukhanyo Am
New Zealand: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett (vice captain), 11 Mark Te’lea, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea (vice captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyral Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Tamaiti Williams
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Anton Leinert-Brown, 23 Beauden Barrett
Recent Head to Head
2024 RC Johannesburg South Africa 31-27 New Zealand
2023 RWC Final Paris New Zealand 11-12 South Africa
2023 RWC (WU) Twickenham New Zealand 7-35 South Africa
2023 RC Auckland New Zealand 35-20 South Africa
2022 RC Johannesburg South Africa 23–35 New Zealand
2022 RC Nelspruit South Africa 26-10 New Zealand
2021 RC Gold Coast (Aus) New Zealand 29-31 South Africa
2021 RC Townsville (Aus) New Zealand 19-17 South Africa
2019 RWC Yokohama New Zealand 23-13 South Africa
2019 RC Wellington New Zealand 16-16 South Africa
The Betting -
As at 5 September 12h42
South Africa -4.5 points at 19/20
New Zealand +5.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
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Posted 5 September 12h46
This handicap was stable at -5.5 but in the last 24 hours or so it has come in to -4.5 South Africa. I find this interesting as I would not say the Boks have named a weaker team than last week but the All Blacks are missing Blackadder and Clarke to injury and I thought both were excellent in Johannesburg.
The All Blacks will have more support in Cape Town but while I thought they were good last weekend I felt the Boks won playing well below their best.
I am expecting improvement from the South Africans and am going to get an early play in on the handicap.
I have seen points quoted at 50.5 and will wait for a few more books to price up and do more research around weather and will add any bets to this preview with any really late plays posted in the forum.
BET: 4 units South Africa -4.5 at 19/20 at WSB
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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