Preview: South Africa vs Barbarians - prediction, team news, lineups

South Africa welcome the Barbarians to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday afternoon for an international friendly match.

In their previous outing, the Springboks dismantled a disappointing Welsh side, winning 73-0 at the Principality Stadium in November, while the Baa-Baas' most recent fixture was a 33-19 defeat to New Zealand's A side.

Match preview

Back-to-back World Champions South Africa have looked invincible recently and unsurprisingly sit well clear at the top of the World Rugby rankings.

Victorious in each of their previous eight matches, the Springboks have dispatched some of world rugby’s best opposition, winning away against New Zealand, Argentina, France and Ireland over that stretch.

Heading into next year’s Rugby World Cup, Rassie Erasmus’s side will certainly be wanting to continue their dominance too, starting with Saturday’s match before facing England, Scotland and Wales in their inaugural Nations Championship next month.

When these side most recently met, South Africa put on an attacking masterclass, scoring eight tries against the Barbarians to win 54-7 in June of last year.

© Imago / Pro Sports Images

With former New Zealand boss Scott Robertson at the helm, the Barbarians have assembled a squad filled with international superstars for their latest set of fixtures.

Saturday’s match is the first of two games this summer for the Baa-Baas, who also face Wales at Twickenham Stadium exactly a week later.

After a poor stretch, claiming victory in just one of their latest six matches over the course of the previous three years, the touring side’s main objective will be returning to winning ways in 2026 and there would be no better way of doing so than beating the World Champions in their own backyard.

However, to do so the Barbarians will have to claim their first ever victory over the Springboks, who they have only faced on two prior occasions, tasting defeat in Cape Town last year and drawing at Twickenham Stadium in 2016.

South Africa form (all competitions): 

Barbarians form (all competitions): 

Team News

© Imago / AFLO

The big news for the hosts is the return of scrum-half Faf de Klerk to the matchday squad, although he can only find space on the bench with Grant Williams being deployed from the start.

Siya Kolisi, who captains the side, Jasper Wiese and Pieter-Steph du Toit feature at the rear of a colossal pack for South Africa, which also includes Franco Mostert partnering Riley Norton on the second-row.

The Barbarians will be captained on Saturday afternoon by scrum-half and former New Zealand international TJ Perenara, who is joined by Argentina's Tomas Albornoz, Scotland's Duhan van der Murwe and Australia's Andrew Kellaway across the backline.

In the scrum, Robertson has deployed the likes of D'Arcy Rae, Franco Molina, Lachlan Boshier and Miracle Fai'ilagi.

South Africa starting lineup:

15 Fassi, 14 Kolbe, 13 Kriel, 12 Esterhuizen, 11 E.van der Merwe, 10 Horn, 9 Williams; 1 Nche, 2 Venter, 3 Sadie, 4 Norton, 5 Mostert, 6 Kolisi, 7 du Toit, 8 Wiese

Replacements:

16 Kotze, 17 Mchunu, 18 Porthen, 19 Dixon, 20 de Villiers, 21 Roos, 22 de Klerk, 23 Moyo

Barbarians starting lineup:

15 Gelant, 14 Kellaway, 13 Vakatawa, 12 Nankivell, 11 D.van der Merwe, 10 Albornoz, 9 Perenara; 1 Vivas, 2 Dee, 3 Rae, 4 Molina, 5 Moon, 6 Petti, 7 Boshier, 8 Fai'ilagi

Replacements:

16 Oviedo, 17 Kebble, 18 Delgado, 19 Rodda, 20 McConnell, 21 Arata, 22 Plummer, 23 Samusamuvodre

We say: South Africa 52-18 Barbarians

With an extremely strong squad at his disposal, there is a good chance that Robertson can earn the Barbarians their first win in over three years within the next fortnight.

However, with the strength and form of South Africa, we cannot see the visitors getting a result this weekend and think that they will be on the receiving end of a heavy defeat at the hands of the Springboks.