Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
2025 Rugby Championship
South Africa v Australia
Ellis Park
Johannesburg, South Africa
Saturday, 16 August 2025
Kick-off is at 17h10
South Africa will get their title defence underway against Australia at Ellis Park in the opening round of the 2025
Rugby Championship on Saturday, August 16.
The Springboks lost just one of their six matches in 2024 as they lifted the trophy for the first time since 2019 after finishing eight points clear of New Zealand at the top of the table.
Rassie Erasmus' side scored the most tries (24) and most points (188), while they also had the best defence, giving up just 10 tries and 94 points.
The reigning world champions beat the Wallabies twice Down Under last year to make it four wins in a row against them, with their last defeat (25-17) coming in Adelaide on 27 August 2022.
South Africa have won all four of their mid-year internationals against the Barbarians, Italy (twice) and Georgia in the build-up to the Southern Hemisphere competition.
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
Erasmus has dismissed the notion that Australia are in better shape after their high-intensity series against the British & Irish Lions, claiming his players are fresher.
"On the battle hardness, there are two ways of looking at it," Erasmus said. "They got six or seven injuries from playing the same team over and over again, while we lost one player in Jasper [Wiese] who lost his temper; otherwise, everyone is fit. We lost no-one here.
"That bodes well for the Rugby Championship, we believe in the intensity of our training sessions. Of course that is different from the games, when you get the pressure and nerves.
"I don't think that tactically we were really challenged by Italy or Georgia, but those were really physical matches. I can't see them (Australia) not being on a high after the way they finished that series."
Australia won just one of their six games at the 2024 Rugby Championship, finishing a staggering nine points behind Argentina in fourth place.
The Wallabies didn't even get a single try bonus point after averaging less than two ties per Test and scoring just 107 points.
Joe Schmidt's side narrowly defeated Fiji 21-18 in their first encounter of 2015 and then faced the British & Irish Lions three times, losing the series 2-1.
Australia ended the series on a positive note with a 22-12 victory in Sydney on August 2, but it came at a cost after fly-half Tom Lynagh and props Allan Alaalatoa and Taniela Tupou sustained injuries.
Rob Valetini and Will Skelton are also nursing injuries, although Schmidt is confident that the duo as well as Tupou could feature in Johannesburg.
"They're definitely all in contention for Ellis Park," Schmidt told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Obviously, Will played 60 minutes [in the third Test against the Lions], Nela [Tupou] played 60-odd [minutes] in Sydney. It feels like a long time ago; it wasn't even a week ago.
"So they're fine and Bobby [Valetini] did a really good run yesterday (Sunday), so our ambition is that he'll train fully with us this week.
On Lynagh and Alaalatoa, he added: "I'm hopeful they're not [out of The Rugby Championship].We're going to have to see how the next two weeks go for both of them really.
"Allan is recovering pretty well so far, and we're hoping that a conservative approach allows him to come back and play. We'll also be really conservative with Tom. He's a young player - you've seen the size of him versus the size of some of the guys firing into him - and we've just got to make sure that we look after them as best we can."
Head-to-Head:
Matches - 95
South Africa wins - 52
Australia wins - 40
Draws - 3
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