After a convincing win in the first clash with Australia in the Rugby Championship last week South Africa start as firm favourites when the teams met again in Round 2 in Perth on Saturday.
Australia v South Africa, Saturday 17th August, Perth, KO 11:45 (South African time)
Referee: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (RFU), Hollie Davidson (SRU)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
Weather Forecast – Perth
Rugby Championship 2024 Outright Betting
Following last week's opening round results the outright betting has South Africa are 1 / 3 (from 4/6) favourites to win the Rugby Championship title with New Zealand at 3/1 (from 29/20), Argentina are 9/1 (from 20/1) and Australia are 120/1 (from 28/1)
(Prices World Sports Betting).
Australia:
Australia were given around 10.5 points start on the handicap for the Round 1 clash with the Boks in Brisbane but plus backers were up against it from early in the game and the Wallabies crashed to a 33-7 defeat.
By half time in Brisbane the Wallabies were already 21-0 down and their only points came towards the end of the game through a try from Hunter Paisami (converted by Lynagh) when the Boks had two men in the sin bin.
Joe Schmidt had begun his reign as coach of the Wallabies with a two match home series against Wales in July. They won the first contest 25-16 (scoring 3 tries to 1) and followed up with a 36-28 victory (try count 4-4) to seal a series win. After that the Wallabies saw off Georgia 40-29.
In the shortened version of Rugby Championship 2023 the Wallabies lost all 3 of their matches, to the Boks 43-12 in Pretoria, to Argentina in Sydney (34-31) and to New Zealand in Melbourne (38-7).
Looking ahead to the rest of this tournament Australia will travel to Argentina for consecutive away fixtures against Los Pumas and they finish up at home and then away to the All Blacks.
South Africa:
Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph Du Toit , Kurt-Lee Arendse (twice) and Kwagga Smith scored the Boks tries in Brisbane and Feinberg-Mngomezulu landed four conversions. The only negative was second half yellow cards for Malcolm Marx and then Marco van Staden and Jesse Kriel late on but the outcome was long since over.
The Springboks hosted Ireland twice in July and honours were shared with the series finishing 1-1. They won the first test 27-20 at Loftus but Ireland edged the second contest in Durban 25-24.
In the 2023 Rugby Championship South Africa started with a 43-12 win over the Wallabies at Loftus. They went down 35-20 to the All Blacks in Auckland and finished up with a 22-21 victory over Argentina in Joburg to finish as runners up.
After this South Africa will host the All Blacks in back to back games in Joburg and then Cape Town. In Round 5 they will be in Argentina and their final match will see them host Los Pumas in Nelspruit.
Team News
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Angus Blyth, 3 Allan Alaalatoa (captain), 2 Josh Nasser, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 James Slipper, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Tom Hooper, 20 Seru Uru, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen
South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Handré Pollard
Recent Head to Head
2024 RC Brisbane Australia 7-33 South Africa
2023 RC Pretoria South Africa 43-12 Australia
2022 RC Sydney Australia 8-24 South Africa
2022 RC Adelaide Australia 25-17 South Africa
2021 RC Brisbane Australia 30-17 South Africa
2021 RC Brisbane Australia 28-26 South Africa
2019 RC Johannesburg South Africa 35-17 Australia
2018 RC Port Elizabeth South Africa 23-12 Australia
2018 RC Brisbane Australia 23-18 South Africa
The Betting -
Posted 15 August 23h10
Australia +12.5 points at 9/10
South Africa -11.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 17 August 11h26
The handicap is stable around +11.5 Australia and the points line is down to 42.5 as it is very wet.
I am not going to add any bets but if I were not yet involved I would take SA under 27.5 points.
Posted 15 August 23h10
There has been plenty of betting action on this match already and those who follow the forum will know I am already heavily involved.
The line opened Australia +14.5 and when the Bok team was named I pounced on it as well as the +13.5.
As predicted the line moved and there was even some +9.5 on offer.
Surprisingly though the line has edged back out and there is now generally +12.5 on offer.
I still think we will still see further movement with the + shortening.
There is plenty of rain forecast and the points line is 46.5. If I get involved it will only be once I have seen conditions and any additional bets will be posted here and in the forum
BET: 5 units Australia +12.5 at 9/10 at HollywoodBets*
*If you are not signed up yet, please use this link to open your account at Hollywood
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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