Wales vs South Africa Prediction & Betting Tips - Test Matchs

Prediction published on 17/08/2023, 12:00  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 19/08/2023 at 02:15 in Rugby Predictions

South Africa will head to Cardiff this weekend to take on Wales at the Millenium Stadium in a World Cup warm-up match on Saturday. Following mixed performances against England over the last two weekends, Wales have dropped to tenth in the World Rugby Rankings. They were overtaken by Figi, who secured a 35-12 victory over Japan the previous week. Welsh Rugby has endured a difficult period over the last year, both on and off the pitch. Wales finished fifth in the Six Nations for a second consecutive year and only managed to beat wooden spoon recipients Italy in the tournament. But with the majority of their player contract issues seemingly sorted, they are shaping up fairly well for the upcoming tournament in France. They secured a very impressive 20-9 win over England at this venue at the start of the month and were narrowly edged out off back-to-back wins over the same opponent at Twickenham last week. One particular intrigue in this match will be the battle of the front lines. Wales overpowered England in both matches this month, and that was also their strongest point in the Six Nations earlier in the year. Wales are the 3/1 outsiders in this contest. 

Meanwhile, South Africa are also coming into this match after a mixed bag of results. The Springboks came second in the shortened 2023 Rugby Championship this year. They breezed past Australia in their opening fixture 43-12, but were no match for the tournament winners, the All Blacks, the following week. In their final match of the competition, the Springboks managed a narrow 22-21 win over Argentina, who they were expected to beat comfortably at Ellis Park Stadium. Last week, though, they did get a comfortable win over the Pumas but did so in Buenos Aires, where they were only marginally favourite to win. Arguably their mixed performances stem from wholesale changes in the team over the last few months as Jacques Nienaber and co try to find the ideal balance for the upcoming World Cup. Still, their performance last week was good enough to suggest that they are making progress, and they are heavily backed to get the win this one. South Africa are ranked fourth in the world and are also fourth-favourite to win the Rugby World Cup this year, according to the latest bookmaker odds.