South Africa’s international rugby end of year tour of Europe starts at Wembley Stadium on Saturday when they take on Japan and the pre-match handicap is a big number.
South Africa v Japan, Saturday 1st November, Wembley, London, KO 18:10 (South African time)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR), Adam Leal (RFU)
TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Weather Forecast – Wembley
South Africa:
South Africa arrive in Europe after clinching the Rugby Championship title, winning 4 and losing 2 of their matches. They began that tournament with a 38-22 defeat to Australia in Johannesburg, but they bounced back in the following round in getting the better of the Wallabies 30-22 in Cape Town.
The first match of a double header against the All Blacks in New Zealand saw the Boks go down 24-17 in Auckland but a Round 4 clash in Wellington turned the tide in South Africa’s favour as a superb display saw them crush New Zealand 43-10. Back to back wins over Argentina, 67-30 at home and 29-27 in the final round at Twickenham clinched the title.
South Africa’s mid year program was fairly low key but they reeled off wins over the Barbarians (54-7), Italy (42-24 and 45-0) and Georgia (55-10).
In the November international series of 2024 South Africa won in Scotland (32-15), in England (29-20) and Wales (45-12).
After this the Boks will take on France, Italy, Ireland and finally Wales.
Japan:
Japan took on Australia in Tokyo last week and although they lost the game 19-15 against a much changed Wallabies line up they put up a decent effort in the second half but came up just short.
In July Japan shared a 2 match home series with Wales 1-1, winning the first contest 24-19 but losing the second 31-22. Since then they were in Pacific Nations Cup action where they reeled off comfortable wins over Canada, USA and Tonga before a defeat to Fiji.
In the 2024 November internationals Japan lost to New Zealand (64-19) and to France (52-12). They beat Uruguay (36-20) and then lost to England (59-14).
After this Japan will play Ireland, Wales and then Georgia.
Head to Head
Oct 2019 RWC Tokyo Japan 3-26 South Africa
Sep 2015 RWC Brighton South Africa 32-34 Japan
Team News
South Africa: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Ethan Hooker, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok
Japan: 15 Yoshitaka Yazaki, 14 Kippei Ishida, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Charlie Lawrence, 11 Tomoki Osada, 10 Lee Seung-sin, 9 Shinobu Fujiwara, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Kenji Sato, 1 Kenta Kobayashi.
Replacements: 16 Shodai Hirao, 17 Ryosuke Iwaihara, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Tyler Paul, 20 Faulua Makisi, 21 Kenta Fukuda, 22 Sam Greene, 23 Tiennan Costley
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
South Africa -38.5 points at 9/10
Japan +38.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this weeks internationals will be posted on this blog.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.