The final round of the southern hemisphere leg of the Nations Championship takes place this weekend, with the Springboks hosting Wales at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday at 5.40pm.
The teams could not be in more contrasting positions. The Boks are No 1 on the world rankings and bidding for an 11th consecutive win, while 12th-ranked Wales are coming off a loss last week to the Pumas in Argentina.
For the Boks, all eyes will be on 20-year-old flyhalf Vusi Moyo. He has played just one United Rugby Championship match for the Sharks, but coach Rassie Erasmus saw something special in Moyo during the Barbarians match in June and wants to see how he goes in a full-blown international.
Likewise, the 21-year-old Jaco Williams is being given a taste of the big time. The speedy wing will have his Sharks teammate, Aphelele Fassi, giving him advice in a back three that also includes the experienced Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Similarly, Moyo has veterans Cobus Reinach at scrumhalf and Damian de Allende at inside centre. Also, there is insurance on the bench in the form of Manie Libbok.
The other two newcomers, Ruben van Heerden and Carlu Sadie, have taken vastly different routes to their debut — they were Junior Springboks way back in 2017 and have had to show patience and determination to finally crack the nod.
The rest of the Springbok match-day squad is vastly experienced except for openside flank Paul de Villiers, who is starting his third Test.
Not long ago Wales suffered a horror 18-match winless run, but were much improved in this year’s Six Nations. Still, it is difficult to see anything other than another commanding South African victory, by at least 20 points.
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Jaco Williams, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Vusi Moyo, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Damian Willemse
Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Teddy Williams, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Rhys Carre. Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 James Botham, 22 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 23 Joe Hawkins.
Date: Saturday, July 18 Venue: Kings Park, Durban Kick-off: 5.40pm Expected weather conditions: It will be sunny with a high of 26°C and a low of 14°C Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland) Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset (France), James Doleman (New Zealand) TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
