Image copyright: Getty Images
World Cup warm-up match
Wales v South Africa
Principality Stadium
Cardiff, Wales
Saturday, 19 August 2023
Kick-off is at 16h15
South Africa will continue their preparations for the
2023 World Cup when they take on Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday, August 19.
The reigning world champions lost just one of their three matches in the 2023 Rugby Championship, going down 35–20 to New Zealand as they finished second in the standings.
Jacques Nienaber's side then headed to South America for the first of three warm-up games, beating Argentina 24-13 in Buenos Aires before travelling to the United Kingdom for the next leg.
The Springboks welcome back Siya Kolisi, who captained his country to victory at the 2019 World Cup, but suffered a knee injury in June to rule him out of the annual southern hemisphere competition.
Also making his return from injury is scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse, while Willie le Roux slots in at full-back in place of Damian Willemse.
Image copyright: Getty Images
Nienaber has stressed the importance of building up a head of steam for their title defence in France, with Scotland their first opponents in Marseille on September 10.
"We have two Tests left before we begin our Rugby World Cup campaign and our focus now is to start building momentum and continuity so that we can peak at the right time for our opening game against Scotland in just under four weeks," he said.
"We gave most of the players in the expanded squad a run in the last four matches and they are now battle hardened and we know anyone in this squad can step in and rise to the challenge whenever they are selected."
Wales didn't have a particularly good Six Nations Championship, winning just one of their five tests - 29-17 against Italy in Rome.
Warren Gatland's side started making ready for the World Cup with two encounters against neighbours England earlier this month.
They put up a far better fight on this occasion, running out 20-9 victors in Cardiff on August 5 before suffering a narrow 19-17 defeat in London seven days later.
Flanker Jac Morgan will skipper the team once more after leading them to victory over England, while hooker Elliot Dee, scrum-half Kieran Hardy, winger Alex Cuthbert and centre pairing Johnny Williams and Mason Grady are set to make their first starts of August.
Alamy Stock Photo
Gatland is looking to build on their two recent performances against the 2003 world champions and has urged his players to stay in the contest with the Boks for the entire 80 minutes.
"We're expecting confidence and physicality from South Africa. They don't make a lot of mistakes. It's a very experienced team for them," he said.
"But we've got a great chance to go out there in front of a home crowd and produce some of the good things that we did in both the games against England. We just need to make sure we play for 80 minutes and are accurate for 80 minutes."
Head-to-Head:
Matches - 40
Wales - 7
South Africa - 32
Draws - 1
Back the Boks risk-free
Claim the offer and place a R25 or more outright bet on South Africa to win the Cup by 28 October and get it risk-free up to R1,000.
For all the latest sports news, betting tips and promotions follow
Betway on
Facebook,
Twitter,
Instagram and
YouTube.
Download the Betway App.