Springboks v Wales: Stats don’t lie

The Springboks are bracing for battle against a desperate Wales side, and there will be plenty of attention placed on how proceedings play out in Cardiff on Saturday evening.

With a potential Grand Slam and the No 1 ranking riding on the outcome of this Test showdown for the Springboks, here is everything you need to know ahead of kick off at 19:40.

HOW THE SPRINGBOKS AND WALES WILL LINE UP:

South Africa — 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Subs: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Handre Pollard.

Wales — 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Ellis Bevan, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 James Botham, 5 Christ Tshiunza, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Subs: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Eddie James, 23 Josh Hathaway.

TEST DETAILS AND OFFICIALS

Date: Saturday, November 23
Venue: Principality Stadium
Kick-off: 19.40 (17.40 UK & Irish time)
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)

SPRINGBOKS VERSUS WALES ALL-TIME STATS AND FACTS:

Head to head record – Boks against Dragons

Played 42: Won 34, Lost 7, Drawn 1.
Points for: 1 112, Points against: 671.
Tries scored: 131, Tries conceded: 55.
Highest score: 96-13.
Biggest win: By 83 points.
Win percentage: 80,9%.

Miscellaneous:

Saturday’s match will be the Springboks’ 101^st match on British and Irish soil since the first tour in 1906 – including matches in the two Rugby World Cups held on the islands. Of those 100 matches, 66 have been won and three drawn while 31 have been lost. The most wins (20) have come against Wales; while the most defeats have been suffered against England (11).
Eben Etzebeth will extend his Springbok record as the most capped player to 131 caps if he takes the field.
The Springboks’ fourth try against England on Saturday was the 50^th of the season – the most the Boks have scored in a non-Rugby World Cup season since 1997 (when 74 tries were scored in 13 tests).
Should the Springboks win, it will be their 55^th in 78 matches since Rassie Erasmus returned (with Jacques Nienaber) in 2018 for a winning percentage of 70,5% over the past seven seasons (no matches were played in 2020), completing the raising of the team’s historic winning record by more than one whole percentage point from 62,47% to 63,60%.
Should the Springboks win, it will be their 11^th victory from 13 matches in the year for a winning percentage of 84,6% – repeating the feat of 2023 – and the highest seasonal percentage achieved since 1998 when 11 of 12 matches were won for a percentage of 91,7%.
A win or a draw for the Springboks would complete the first undefeated northern hemisphere tour since 2013.
This will be the second time the teams meet in the UK this season after playing an international friendly in their opening match of the season at the Allianz Stadium in June.
The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 539.
There are 256 caps in the backline, with 283 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 431 caps.
The average caps per player in the backline is 36, the forwards 35, while the players on the bench average 53.