South Africa vs Portugal Preview & Prediction | 2024 Summer Internationals
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Portugal are a rapidly-improving Tier-Two nation but they are likely to be given a reality check here by the world champions.
START DATE/TIME: Saturday 20th July, 2024, UK – 4:00pm / US ET – 11:00am / US PT – 8:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – Not televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – FloSports app
SOUTH AFRICA FORM: WORLD CHAMPIONS LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
South Africa have been one of the more active nations recently, the world champions following up their 41-13 victory over Wales last month with two hard-fought Tests against Ireland, winning the first 27-20 before narrowly losing the second 25-24.
LAST FIVE: WWWWL
PORTUGAL FORM: STEADY IMPROVEMENT
There is no doubting the fact that Portugal are one of the most improved rugby nations in recent years, and they come into this contest following having won their last two outings – against Fiji in last year’s World Cup group stage, and against Namibia last week.
LAST FIVE: LDLWW
SOUTH AFRICA TEAM NEWS: SWEEPING SPRINGBOKS CHANGES
Rassie Erasmus will get a look at seven debutants for this Test, while there are 14 changes overall from the team that lost by a single point to Ireland last week.
Kurt-lee Arsendse is the only surviving member of that defeat in Durban.
SQUAD: 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 2 Johan Grobbelar, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 5 RG Snyman, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 8 Evan Roos, 9 Cobus Reinach, 10 Maine Libbok, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 15 Aphelele Fassi
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchuno, 18 Trever Nyakane, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn
PORTUGAL TEAM NEWS: FIVE CHANGES AND NEW CAPTAIN
The Tier-Two nation have made five changes from the side that defeated Namibia last week. Nicolas Martins, who captained Portugal to that victory, drops out, with Tomas Appleton given skipper duties for this one.
SQUAD: 15. Simao Bento, 14. Manuel Cardoso Pinto, 13. Jose Lima, 12. Tomas Appleton (c), 11. Rodrigo Marta, 10. Joris Moura, 9. Hugo Camacho, 1. Francisco Fernandes, 2. Luka Begic, 3. Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 4. Nicolas Fernandes, 5. Duarte Torgal, 6. Jose Maderia, 7. Diego Pinheiro, 8. Vasco Baptista
REPLACEMENTS: 16. David Costa, 17. Pedro Vicente, 18. Abel Cunha, 19. Antionio R. Andrade, 20. Andre Cunha, 21. Pedro Lucas, 22. Domingos Cabral, 23. Jose P. Santos
SOUTH AFRICA VS PORTUGAL PREDICTION
This is in fact the first ever Test match between these two nations, but given Portugal’s improvement in recent times, there will surely be more to follow in the coming years.
Having said that, there is still a clear gulf in class between the two. Reigning world champions South Africa have contested plenty of tight games recently, with four of their last six matches being decided by just a single point. That is unlikely to be the case here though, as a strong South African response is expected after their defeat to Ireland last week.
SOUTH AFRICA VS PORTUGAL TIP: SOUTH AFRICA TO WIN WITH -32.5 HANDICAP
