SOUTH AFRICA v WALES – TWICKENHAM STADIUM, LONDON – KO 3pm SAST
Head-to-head
Played: 41 – South Africa leads 33-7 with one draw
Points for: Wales 658/South Africa 1 071 (Avg. score: 16-26)
Highest score: Wales 36 (36-38 on 6 November, 2004) / South Africa 96 (96-13 on 27 June, 1998)
Biggest winning margin: Wales 14 (27-13 on 26 November, 2016) / South Africa 83 (96-13 on 27 June,
1998)
First met: 1 December, 1906 – South Africa 11-0 Wales – St Helen’s, Swansea
Last met: 19 August, 2023 – South Africa 52-16 Wales – Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Match notes
• Wales take on South Africa in the first match of Saturday’s double-header at Twickenham Stadium, with Fiji facing the Barbarians in the second match.
• The Springboks edged it 23-19 the last time both teams met at Twickenham in the Rugby World Cup 2015 quarter-finals.
• Dan Biggar scored 14 points for Wales and created the chance for Gareth Davies’ try.
• Wales led 13-12 at half-time but Fourie du Preez's 75th-minute try – in addition to five penalties and a drop goal from Handré Pollard ended their dreams.
• Wales suffered a record home defeat to South Africa the last time the sides met in a RWC 2023 warm-up match in Cardiff, losing 52-16.
• It was also Wales’ heaviest defeat under Warren Gatland in 133 fixtures up until that point and the first time they had conceded 50 or more points during either of his stints in charge.
• It was also the most tries shipped on his watch in a test, with the Springboks crossing their line seven times.
• Canan Moodie and Jesse Kriel scored twice, while Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Damian Willemse, who was yellow carded with 10 minutes to go, also dotted down for the Springboks.
• Manie Libbok kicked five conversions.
• Sam Costelow kicked three first-half penalties before Sam Parry crashed over with nine minutes to go. Debutant Cai Evans kicked the conversion.
• South Africa have won five of the last six meetings with Wales’ only success in that time being a 13-12 victory in Bloemfontein in July 2022.
Team notes
• South Africa are two-time defending world champions having gone back-to-back at Rugby World Cup 2019 and 2023.
• This is their first match since they retained the Webb Ellis Cup with a 12-11 win against 14-man New Zealand in last year’s final in France.
• South Africa have won their last four games, the last three by a single point.
• The Springboks last defeat was 13-8 to Ireland in the RWC 2023 pool stage at Stade de France.
• South Africa beat New Zealand 35-7 when they last played at Twickenham on the eve of RWC 2023.
• The All Blacks lost second-row Scott Barrett in the first half as he was dismissed for two yellow cards as the world champions entered the break with a 14-0 lead thanks to tries from captain Siya Kolisi and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
• Marx, Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith also went over for tries in the second half to extend South Africa's advantage before New Zealand scored a late consolation.
• This match was also notable for the fact that South Africa opted for a 7-1 split on the bench for the first time.
• South Africa won more scrum penalties than any other team at RWC 2023 (16).
• South Africa averaged the joint-most dominant tackles (140 at RWC 2023 (along with Georgia).
• Wales were whitewashed for only the second time in Men’s Six Nations history (also 2003), with five defeats from five.
• Their campaign came to a disappointing end with a 24-21 defeat at home to Italy.
• Wales have now lost their last six matches in the Men’s Six Nations.
• Wales began their campaign with a 27-26 reverse at home to Scotland before falling to England, 16-14 at Twickenham.
• Ireland convincingly beat them 31-7 in round three before France left Cardiff with a 45-24 victory, with the hosts conceding 25 points inside the final 20 minutes.
• Wales received the fewest cards of any of the teams in the 2024 Championship, having been issued with just one yellow, and their tally of 40 penalties conceded was only bettered by France.
• Across the first two rounds, Wales only conceded nine penalties.
• Wales only kicked one penalty goal in the whole Championship, while 10 of their 13 tries were converted.
Team news
• Rugby World Cup-winning tight-head prop Vincent Koch will play his 50th Test for the Springboks on Saturday as they take on Wales at Twickenham in their first match since they successfully defended the Webb Ellis Cup in France last October.
• Koch will be joined in the Springbok front-row by hooker Marx, who is set to play in his first test since he injured his knee in training at RWC 2023 and loose-head Ox Nche.
• Eben Etzebeth, who with 119 Tests has one fewer cap than the revised Wales starting pack put together, lines up in the second-row with Franco Mostert.
• Completing the pack, Smith, captain Du Toit and Evan Roos make up the back-row.
• For Smith, it is a rare outing at No 6 with his last appearance in that jersey being a try-scoring one against New Zealand in a 35-20 defeat at Eden Park last July.
• Du Toit – Player of the Match in the RWC 2023 final – will captain South Africa for the second time, having led the Springboks in a 22-20 loss against Wales in Washington DC, USA, in 2018.
• In the backline, flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse – the younger brother of Springbok scrumhalf Jaden – and winger Edwill van der Merwe are handed their Test debuts.
• Hendrike has the experience of Faf de Klerk alongside him at half-back, while Makazole Mapimpi is on the opposite wing to Van der Merwe.
• Aphelele Fassi gets his first start at full-back having made his three previous Test appearances on the wing. Fassi’s last Test was the 13-12 defeat to Wales in Bloemfontein in July 2022.
• That leaves Andre Esterhuizen and Jesse Kriel to combine in midfield.
• The uncapped second-row Ben-Jason Dixon and utility back Sacha FeinbergMngomezulu are in line for their Test debuts after being named on the bench.
• Their Stormers teammate Frans Malherbe is poised to earn test cap 70 off the bench.
• Cardiff scrumhalf Ellis Bevan will make his Test debut for Wales at Twickenham, while Scarlets’ centre Eddie James and Cardiff utility back Jacob Beetham will hope to make their first appearances off the bench.
• Warren Gatland’s inexperienced starting line-up boasts only 292 Tests between them, with returning British & Irish Lions back Liam Williams accounting for 89 of them (30%).
• Williams (33) last played Test rugby on the wing for Wales against Scotland in February 2021. He was unavailable to Warren Gatland during this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations.
• Cameron Winnett will hope to maintain his form from the Men’s Six Nations at fullback, while Rio Dyer, another of Wales’ best performers in recent times, takes his place on the left wing.
• In midfield Mason Grady gets a first start at inside-centre – his four previous starts have been at 13 – alongside Owen Watkin, while Bevan partners Sam Costelow at half-back.
• Wales will be led by Rugby World Cup 2023 co-captain and hooker Dewi Lake, with Gareth Thomas and Kieran Assiratti either side of him. Henry Thomas was initially named at tighthead but suffered a foot injury in training so Assiratti was promoted from the bench to start with Harri O’Connor coming into the match-day squad.
• Matthew Screech earns a first Wales appearance since his debut against Argentina in July 2021 and has Ben Carter for company in the second row, while Taine Plumtree, James Botham and Aaron Wainwright make up the back row.
• Consistency of selection has been an issue for Wales for varying reasons but Wainwright is an exception having started his country’s last eight Tests, at six and at eight.
Coach notes
• Rassie Erasmus – the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles of 2019 and 2023 – has returned to the role of head coach following the departure of Jacques Nienaber to Leinster.
• Erasmus coached the team in 2019 and was Director of Rugby four years later.
• Erasmus’ reign in charge started with a defeat to Wales in Washington DC in June 2018.
• Former All Black flyhalf Tony Brown has been brought in as attack coach and the responsibility for the defence now falls to former Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery.
• Erasmus has also added a performance analyst in Paddy Sullivan, who worked with the team as a consultant at last year’s Rugby World Cup. Sullivan has been a performance analyst for French Top 14 team, Montpelier, for the last three seasons.
• Double RWC-winning Springbok number eight, Duane Vermeulen, has also been appointed to a roving coaching role with all SA Rugby’s national teams, while former referee Jaco Peyper has come on board as a laws advisor.
• Erasmus played 36 Tests for South Africa as a back-row forward.
• Warren Gatland has won six out of 18 games since he returned as head coach (33%) compared to 71 out of 126 in his first spell (56%).
• Gatland initially coached Wales from 2008-19, winning the Men’s Six Nations title in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2019, three of them with the Grand Slam.
• He took Wales to the top of World Rugby’s Men’s Rankings – for the first time on the eve of RWC 2019 – by virtue of a record 14-match unbeaten run during his final year in charge first time around.
• Gatland is two wins away from 100 Test wins as a head coach (Wales, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions).
• The New Zealander also coached Ireland, winning half of his 34 Tests in charge between 1998 and 2001. He won two of his three Tests against Wales as Ireland coach.
Referee
Chris Busby (Ireland)
Test debut: 7 February, 2021 – Spain 25-11 Portugal
Tests as referee: 5
• Chris Busby will take charge of this fixture for the first time, having been an assistant referee when South Africa triumphed 52-16 in August 2023.
• It will be the first time he referees either team and the first time he takes charge of teams in the top 10 of the World Rugby Men’s Rankings.
• This will be the Irish official’s first Test in the middle since Romania’s 31-25 victory over Spain in the Rugby Europe Men’s Championship in March 2023.
• Busby will also referee Argentina v France in Mendoza on 6 July.
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