Bloemfontein hosts a one off international rugby test between South Africa and Portugal on Saturday as the Boks tune up for the forthcoming Rugby Championship

South Africa v Portugal, Saturday 20th July, Bloemfontein, KO 17:00 (South African time)

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)

Weather Forecast - Bloemfontein

South Africa:

The Springboks hosted Ireland twice over the past fortnight and honours were shared with the series finishing 1-1.

South Africa had started the first test in Pretoria at around 7.5 point favourites on the bookmakers main handicap line and that proved to be accurate as they came out on top 27-20. Kurt-Lee Arendse, Kolbe and a late penalty try helped the Boks come out on top in a game they never trailed.

The second test was staged in Durban last week, this time the Springboks were 9.5 point favourites on the main handicap line but Ireland led 16-6 at half time. South Africa failed to score a try but a total of 8 penalties landed by Pollard saw them hit the front 24-19 with just 10 minutes remaining. However 2 drop goals from Ireland, the second of which came right at the death saw the visitors edge it 25-24.

Phepsi Buthelezi, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels will make their Bok debuts from the start whilst more uncapped players, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ruan Venter, Morné van den Berg and Quan Horn are on the bench. Salmaan Moerat has been named as skipper.

Portugal:

Portugal were in Namibia last week and they won 37-22. Earlier this year they were involved in the Europe Championship and they lost the Grand Final to Georgia 36-10.

Portugal exceeded expectations by some distance in RWC 2023. They cme fourth in a group topped by Wales with Fiji second, Australia missed out in third, Portugal were fourth and Georgia finished bottom. Although they lost 28-8 to Wales and 34-14 to Australia they drew 18-18 with Georgia and in their final action of the tournament they turned Fiji over, 24-23.

This is the first ever meeting between the teams

Team News

South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn

Portugal: 15 Simao Bento, 14 Manuel Cardoso Pinto, 13 Jose Lima, 12 Tomas Appleton, 11 Rodrigo Marta, 10 Joris Moura, 9 Hugo Camacho, 8 Vasco Baptista, 7 Diego Pinheiro, 6 Jose Madeira, 5 Duarte Torgal, 4 Nicolas Fernandes, 3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 2 Luka Begic, 1 Francisco Fernandes.

Replacements: 16 David Costa, 17 Pedro Vicente, 18 Abel da Cunha, Antonio Rebelo Andrade, 20 Andre Cunha, 21 Pedro Lucas, 22 Domingos Cabral, 23 Jose Paiva dos Santos

The Betting

South Africa -36.5 points at 9/10

Portugal +36.5 points at 9/10

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

Betting Angle

I have been battling with this game all week and the handicap looks about right.

The points line is 65.5 and that looks a bit high. I can see the Boks being a bit scrappy and Portugal will be determined to give a decent account of themselves. 

Bet: 3 units under 65.5 points at 10/11 at WSB

Update 20 July 11h45

I feel like I need a bit more action in this game and going to follow Southpaw in the Forum with a couple of first and last try scorer bets 

0.5 unit Reinach 1st try @ 11/1
0.5 unit V d Berg last try @ 18/1

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

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