Springboks-Wales: Teams, kick-off time, stats, officials

The Springboks head into their final Test of the year on Saturday, and it’s virtually impossible to see anything but a resounding victory against an embattled Wales team that has lost 11 matches in a row.

If the Springboks finish the season with 11 victories from 13, they will come away from 2024 with an impressive 84.6% win record – which would be exactly the same as last year.

Interestingly, Rassie Erasmus acknowledged this week that they were mindful of these statistics, and what it means to the team.

“It means a lot. When you lose, you quickly find out how much it means if you win,” said Erasmus.

“In my first year I remember my win record was 50% and us beating New Zealand in New Zealand gave us some breathing space. It’s important for South Africa and for us to keep on winning while experimenting.

“But somewhere, the experimenting must stop and we must settle and we have that target in mind.

“World rankings is less important to us than chopping and changing, but we have to find that momentum of playing together so that whoever slots in, we keep the momentum on defence and attack.”

This Saturday’s season-ending Test against Wales kicks off at 19:40 SA time, and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Springboks v Wales teams and match information

South Africa (updated): 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 (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marco van Staden, 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 Will Rowlands, 4 Christ Tshiunza; 3 Gareth Thomas, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Archie Griffin.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Eddie James, 23 Josh Hathaway.

Date – Springboks v Wales: Saturday, November 23
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 17.40 (19.40 SA time; 17.40 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley, Damian Schneider
TMO: Andrew Jackson

Stats and facts:

Springbok record against Wales:
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: 83 points; Win %: 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 in 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.