Australia vs South Africa Preview & Prediction | 2024 Rugby Championship | Round 2
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Australia will look to turn the tide after losing to South Africa last week, but the Springboks have already established themselves as the team to beat at this year's Rugby Championship.
START DATE/TIME: Saturday 17th August, 2024: UK – 10:45am / US ET – 5:45am / US PT – 2:45am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – Not televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – FloRugby
AUSTRALIA FORM: REALITY CHECK FOR THE WALLABIES
Although Australia were unbeaten in Joe Schmidt’s first four games in charge, they hadn’t faced a team of the quality of South Africa during that stretch and they were brought back down to earth last week with a 33-7 defeat to the world champions.
The Wallabies struggled to exert themselves in Brisbane and were second best all over the pitch. The conundrum now facing Schmidt is how he goes about combating the Springboks’ physical superiority.
LAST FIVE: W-W-W-W-L
SOUTH AFRICA FORM: STATEMENT WIN FOR THE TOURNAMENT FAVOURITES
There was no hint last week of South Africa faltering at a ground they previously had a poor record at, and the bookies’ favourite to win the Rugby Championship are already looking like the team to beat this year, especially after New Zealand’s loss to Argentina in the opening round.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus has made a few changes for this repeat against the Wallabies, but such is the strength in depth of the South African roster, there is unlikely to be a significant drop-off in quality.
LAST FIVE: W-W-L-W-W
AUSTRALIA TEAM NEWS
SQUAD: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Nic White, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Angus Blyth, 3 Allan Alaalatoa (c), 2 Josh Nasser, 1 Angus Bell
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 James Slipper,18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Tom Hooper, 20 Seru Uru, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Max Jorgensen
SOUTH AFRICA TEAM NEWS
SQUAD: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Handre Pollard
AUSTRALIA VS SOUTH AFRICA PREDICTION
South Africa were comfortably the better side last weekend, so much so that the 33-7 scoreline didn’t really do their dominance justice. Two bruising encounters against Ireland last month were clearly the perfect preparation for South Africa heading into this tournament,
It will take some performance from Australia here to offer sterner resistance, but the Springboks look a cut above the rest right now and anything other than another convincing victory for the Rugby Championship favourites would be a surprise.
AUSTRALIA VS SOUTH AFRICA TIP: SOUTH AFRICA TO WIN WITH -10.5 HANDICAP
