Wales v South Africa Preview and Prediction

It’s apropos that the current kings of rugby will close out the international season after what has been another dominant year by the South Africans. The back-to-back world champions have won 12 of their 14 matches in 2025, retained the Rugby Championship and remain at the top of the world rankings.

Their demolition job of Ireland in Dublin last weekend, which was far more emphatic than the 24-13 scoreline suggests, helped guarantee that the men in Green and Gold will finish the year in the No. 1 spot in the rankings ahead of the forthcoming 2027 Rugby World Cup draw, even should they suffer a shock loss on Saturday.

Given that, and the highs of a record-breaking 43-10 win over the All Blacks in Wellington, a 32-17 victory over France in Paris and a first win in Dublin in 13 years, some might wonder how Rassie Erasmus’ men will get up for the clash against the struggling Dragons, but knowing this golden generation of Boks, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Because this game falls outside of the Test window, the Boks will be without their legion of overseas-based stars, including newly crowned World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, and even some United Rugby Championship players, including Handre Pollard, Edwill van der Merwe and Grant Williams.

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Thus, Erasmus has been left with a skeleton crew of 24 or 25 players. That would’ve made for a challenging week of preparation, but this is where the benefits of the alignment camps they held earlier in the year will come to the fore.

Some of the young players who’ll get an opportunity this weekend may be short on experience, but they’re well-schooled in the Bok systems, which should give them a leg up.

This group has set a new standard for what it means to be a Bok, and for those who’ll do duty against the Dragons, the showdown at the Principality Stadium is about upholding that standard whilst also making the most of the opportunity from a personal standpoint to strengthen their place in the wider squad.

They’re also eager to complete a second successive end-of-year clean sweep. Therefore, these Boks won’t be lacking in motivation.

In contrast to South Africa, Wales are enduring another tough season, although it’s better than their fruitless 2024 campaign. They crashed to a second consecutive winless Six Nations campaign and have won just two of their 10 Tests, both against Japan.

The 31-22 away win over the Brave Blossoms in July snapped their record 18-game losing streak, while they needed a last-gasp penalty goal to edge Eddie Jones’ men 24-23 two weeks ago. That marked their first victory under new coach Steve Tandy, who took over at the start of the month.

They’re coming off a 52-26 loss to the All Blacks last weekend, in which they showed glimpses of quality. They’ll also be without their foreign-based players, although they’re far fewer than the Bok army who’ll be M.I.A.

Despite their struggles, the Dragons will feel there’s a chance to stun an understrength Bok side, but South Africa have such depth that they should still prevail comfortably.

Prediction: South Africa by 35.

Suggested Bet: Wales +37 at 1.90.