The Springboks first international rugby action of 2024 takes place on Saturday, Twickenham is the venue and Wales provide the opposition.
Wales v South Africa, Saturday 22nd June, Twickenham, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Mark Patton (Ireland)
Weather Forecast: Twickenham
South Africa:
The Boks are back in action for the first time since they defended the Rugby World Cup title in France in 2023, beating New Zealand in the final. Pieter-Steph du Toit is handed the skippers arm band for this game, Edwill van der Merwe and Jordan Hendrikse will make debuts from the start and Ben-Jason Dixon and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are on the bench.
Although the Bulls players will be on duty in the URC Final and some regulars are absent through injury there is still plenty of experience.
The Boks will host Ireland twice next month and then Portugal before the Rugby Championship gets underway in August.
Wales:
Warren Gatland continues as coach of Wales and they are gearing up for a 2 match tour of Australia. With this match falling outside of the international window they will also be without a number of regulars including those with English clubs.
In the Six Nations earlier this year Wales finished bottom of the log. They lost all of their matches; at home to Scotland (27-26), to England at this venue (16-14), to Ireland in Dublin (31-7), at home to France (45-24) and finally at home to Italy (24-21).
In RWC 2023 Wales won all of their pool matches to reach the quarter finals where they lost 29-17 to Argentina.
Team News
South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain), 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Damian de Allende
Wales: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Mason Grady, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Ellis Bevan, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 James Botham, 6 Taine Plumtree, 5 Ben Carter, 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 James Ratti, 20 Mackenzie Martin, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Eddie James, 23 Jacob Beetham.
Recent Head to Head
The teams met in an RWC 2023 warm up match in Cardiff in August last year and South Africa dished out a 52-16 hiding with the Boks running in 8 tries to 1.
South Africa were 2-1 winners in their home series against Wales in July 2022. They edged the first test 32-29, lost the second with a much changed side 13-12 and won the decider 30-14.
The Betting
South Africa -20.5 points
Wales +20.5 points
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
The money has come for South Africa from an opening call of -14.5 to the current -20.5.
Both teams have fielded was looks like experimental teams but the Bok team showcases the depth in SA rugby and looks very strong.
There is every chance they blow the Welsh away and I fancy them to score plenty at Twickenham a ground which I always consider great for attacking rugby.
My bet is Sa over 37.5 points but I also like an ATS strike
BET: 3 units SA over 37.5 points at 0.84/1 at Betway*
*If you don’t have a Betway account please use this link to open one and use the Promo code GFTG!
Credit to @Callmeoldfashnd for this next one who tweeted that Marx anytime scorer is value at 11/10. He is expecting scrum penalties and kicks to the corner and I agree.
BET: 4 units Marx ATS at 11/10 at Pokerbet*
*You can open a Pokerbet Account by clicking here
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
