The test is about to get harder as they welcome reigning world champions and serial winners South Africa to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, in their last game of the Autumn Nations Series.
Head-to-Head
Wales and South Africa have faced each other on 42 occasions, with their first meeting in 1906.
South Africa claimed the majority of the victories (34), while Wales only won on seven occasions, with one draw.
In their most recent encounter, South Africa thumped Wales 41-13 in a one-off match held at the Allianz Stadium earlier in the summer.
At this match, Eben Eztebeth had won almost as many caps (119) as the entire Welsh pack that started on that day (120).
Form Guide
Wales go into this fixture off the back of their heaviest loss of the year (20-52) to the Wallabies last weekend, falling to a record 11th defeat on the bounce.
The loss saw them claim the title of - statistically - the worst Welsh side in history, as pressure mounts on head coach Warren Gatland and his players to end this losing streak.
Wales captain Dewi Lake is confident this Welsh side can bounce back, saying: “Come this time next year if we’re on a winning run then this won’t really matter, it will be a learning curve. It’s disappointing that we’re on this losing run, but this group is good enough to go places and we will.”
Things couldn’t be more different for the mighty Springboks and Rassie Erasmus: they have won four out of their last five, with their last two coming against European opposition in the Autumn Nations Series.
They defeated Scotland 15-32, before travelling to the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, and beating a struggling English side 20-29 in an intense battle.
South Africa have won 14 out of their last 16 Test matches, with their two defeats coming by a single point, each of the Springboks’ last 13 games have been won by half-time.
It will be a physical encounter in Cardiff on Saturday, with Wales up against a ruthless team in both attack and defence. The Springboks have the highest dominant carry (38.9%) and dominant tackle (10.5%) rate of any nation in men’s Tier 1 rugby this year, while Wales have the lowest dominant tackle rate of any such side in 2024 (5.5%).
Team News
Wales will be without experienced second-row Adam Beard as he was taken off in the 7th minute versus Australia. He has since been released from the squad due to the knee injury sustained.
Pieter-Steph du Toit is unavailable for selection after the Springboks confirmed that he is nursing a should injury.
