World Rugby rankings: Springboks set to rise with win over Wales

Recently, Wales have fallen as low as 10th on the World Rugby rankings, while it should not be noted that this weekend South Africa will replace France in third if they claim victory in Cardiff, regardless of Les Bleus’ result against Fiji.

On Saturday, the Springboks will take on Wales in Cardiff, with recent history revealing that South Africa have won four out of their last five games against the ‘Dragons’.

ALSO READ | Don’t forget: Final World Cup squad deadline is on Monday!

This is because France cannot improve their rating with victory over Fiji due to the 10.52 points difference between the sides before home weighting is factored in.

Meanwhile, Wales can jump as many as three places to seventh if they beat South Africa by more than 15 points and Fiji fail to beat Rugby World Cup 2023 hosts France.

ALSO READ | So is this the Springboks line-up for ‘big’ World Cup games?

Here is how the teams will line up:

Springboks – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Duane Vermeulen, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Damian Willemse.

Wales – revised; 15 Cai Evans, 14 Alex Cuthbert,13 Mason Grady, 12 Johnny Williams,11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Ben Carter, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Corey Domachowski.
Subs: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Tom Rogers.

ALSO READ: Canan Moodie living Springbok dreams

SPRINGBOKS RECORD AGAINST WALES

Played 40; Won 32; Lost 7; Drawn 1; Points for: 1 019; Points against; 642; Tries scored: 118; Tries conceded: 53; Highest score: 96-13; Biggest win: 83 points. Win % 80%.

ALSO READ | Bok boss Rassie Erasmus linked with top job in Ireland

MILESTONES:

• Manie Libbok requires five more points to reach 50 Test points.
• Damian Willemse is only 14 points short of earning 50 points for the Springboks.
• Siya Kolisi needs to score one more try to reach 10 Test tries and 50 points.
• The Munster duo of Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman will start as a combination for the Springboks for the first time against Wales.

MISCELLANEOUS:

• The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 664.
• There are 269 caps in the backline, with 395 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 304 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 38, the forwards 49, while the players on the bench average 38.

ALSO READ: How Makazole Mapimpi turns negativity into something positive