Preview: Preview: South Africa vs. Wales - prediction, team news, lineups

South Africa entertain Wales at the Kings Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the final round of Nations Championship fixtures this month.

Last time out, the Springboks posted a 42-28 victory against Scotland in Pretoria, while the Red Dragons fell to a 35-21 defeat versus Argentina in San Juan.

Match preview

With two rounds of the Nations Championship behind us, it comes as no surprise that South Africa will head into November’s fixtures as the favourites to win the first-ever tournament edition.

After their opening weekend victory against England in Johannesburg, the Springboks made it back-to-back tournament triumphs on Saturday afternoon as they pulled away in the second-half to beat Scotland 42-28 at the Loftus Versefeld Stadium.

Not only does it have Rassie Erasmus’s men sitting atop the Southern Hemisphere table, narrowly above New Zealand on points difference, but their win against Gregor Townsend’s outfit was astonishingly their 11th victory in a row, most recently tasting defeat to the All Blacks last September.

Looking to remain perfect going into November’s Northern Hemisphere fixtures, South Africa will be confident of doing so against a struggling Welsh outfit that they have claimed victory over in each of the previous five meetings between the sides.

© Iconsport / PA Images

Heading into the inaugural Nations Championship campaign off the back of their third consecutive wooden spoon Six Nations finish, Wales will be content with their performances in the tournament so far.

In the first round, the Red Dragons delivered an impressive second-half display to grab a bonus point 39-24 victory against Fiji in Cardiff, but that was then followed up by a disappointing 35-21 defeat away to a strong Argentina side on Saturday evening.

As a result, Steve Tandy’s men currently sit a mediocre fifth above Italy in the Northern Hemisphere table, though they are only trailing fierce rivals England on score difference, with Steve Borthwick’s men 42 points better off.

Preparing to face a formidable South Africa outfit this weekend, Wales are far from favourites, but having beat the Springboks 13-12 in Japan just over four years ago, Tandy’s men do boast recent experience of overcoming Saturday’s opposition.

South Africa Nations Championship form:

South Africa form (all competitions):

Wales Nations Championship form:

Wales form (all competitions):

Team News

© Imago / Pro Sports Images

In the scrum, only Cobus Wiese on the second-row and captain Pieter-Steph du Toit at openside-flanker keep their spots from last weekend, with Malcolm Marx and Jasper Wiese amongst those to be reintroduced..

Likewise, Aphelele Fassi and Jesse Kriel feature once again in the backs, with Damian Willemse, Handre Pollard and Embrose Papier all missing out.

Wales have made a pair of changes to the pack that started against Argentina, with Teddy Williams replacing Ben Carter on the second-row and Alex Mann coming in for James Botham at blindside-flanker.

Across the backline, only Tomos Williams, Josh Adams and Blair Murray keep their places, with Louis Rees-Zammit and Dan Edwards amongst those to retrun to the fold this weekend.

South Africa starting lineup:

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Jaco Williams, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Vusi Moyo, 9 Cobus Reinach; 1 Gerhard Steenekamp, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Carlu Sadie, 4 Cobus Wiese, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 6 Paul de Villiers, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese

Replacements:

16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Jan-Hendrick Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Damian Willemse

Wales starting lineup:

15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams; 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Dewi Lake, 3 Dillon Lewis, 4 Teddy Williams, 5 Adam Beard, 6 Alex Mann, 7 Jac Morgan, 8 Aaron Wainwright

Replacements:

16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 James Botham, 22 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 23 Joe Hawkins

We say: South Africa 46-12 Wales

Although they have posted a perfect start, fixtures against England and Scotland have been no breeze for South Africa, but we expect they will truly kick into gear this weekend.

Despite a promising start to the Nations Championship, we predict that Wales will be unable to lay a glove on the Springboks, enduring a convincing defeat in Durban.