If Wales were harbouring any hope that the Springboks might go easy on them in the out of international window test that will end the international year and world champion team’s successful tour would have been given a reality check by Rassie Erasmus’ team announcement.
Far from being the kind of young, inexperienced Bok team designed to increase the experience of fringe players by boosting their number of international caps, the side called out to do duty against a Wales team without at least 13 top players due to a combination of factors, looks like one that has been assembled to crush the opposition.
Let’s correct that - not just the starting team, but the entire match day squad of 23, is set up in a way that should have sent shivers of apprehension through Welsh spines. For a start, there’s the bench. Rassie has gone back to what some call his nuclear bomb squad for this game - seven forwards and one back.
Erasmus explained in his press conference that it was partly forced on him. He has released a few players to their franchises this week due to this test being played outside of the international window, and let’s not forget that the franchises have successfully and correctly applied to richly compensated for every player that will be on international duty rather than playing in the sixth round of the Vodacom URC.
Apparently the extra players not selected for this game are just two - Ntuthuko Mchunu and, in case he was needed in an emergency, assistant coach Duane Vermeulen.
But regardless of the intention, the effect is still the same - there will be no let up in the physical onslaught against Wales. There will be big men coming at them all game, and they would have seen what happened to Ireland in Dublin last week when the Boks got physical.
SA HAVE MASSIVE BACKLINE FOR THIS GAME
Not that the term big men applies this week just to the forwards. Take a look at the backline and you will see that this is possibly the biggest set of backs ever assembled for a game.
Damian Willemse is possibly the shortest outside back, but the fullback is definitely not small and is getting more muscular and square with every season that he plays. His power is becoming as important to his game as his explosiveness and his stepping ability.
Canan Moodie and Ethan Hooker are both tall wings. Not that the smaller wings such as Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse or Edwill van der Merwe, none of whom are in Cardiff, ever come off second best in an aerial battle, but now there is also formidable height and size out wide, while Damian de Allende playing outside centre to a player in Andre Esterhuizen who has been moonlighting as a loose-forward makes it a massive midfield too.
Then there’s Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. If anyone thinks Sacha is small they’d be wrong. He is a well built flyhalf and a physical one too. Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg is the only player outside of the forwards that can be considered on the diminutive side, but then that’s how it usually is with No 9s, who of course play a role that demands they have bodies that can wriggle through the smallest of holes.
The forwards, all 15 of them, are an imposing mix of experience and potential. Franco Mostert, who plays blindside flank this time, will want to make up for the missed opportunity when he was wrongfully red carded in Turin, and ditto Ben-Jason Dixon, who had to leave the field with him in that Italy game.
Zachary Porthen looks like he is covering loosehead in his third international game although it may be that Asenathi Ntlabakanye, playing his third test, could fill that role, and alongside them on the bench is Bongi Mbonambi, a double World Cup winner no doubt itching to prove he can still bring it at this level.
That’s before you get to Eben Etzebeth, motoring now towards the 150 cap mark, and that fine Bomb Squad specialist Kwagga Smith, and the one back on the bench, Cobus Reinach, who in addition to covering scrumhalf can also play wing if needed, will celebrate his 50th when he comes on.
More than 11 years after making his #Springboks debut, Cobus Reinach will reach his 50th test cap in Cardiff on Saturday, as Rassie Erasmus opts for a 7-1 bench to take on Wales - more here: https://t.co/J5Bigk89Qo 💥#ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/sKafIl8mDz
— Springboks (@Springboks) November 27, 2025
WELSH LACK EXPERIENCE BUT LESS CALLOW THAN MADE OUT
Arrayed against this formidable and experienced team is a Wales side that has just 267 caps between them in the starting team, which isn’t as many as three players in the Bok starting team combined - De Allende, Mostert and skipper Siya Kolisi.
Yet the Welsh side maybe isn’t quite as callow as is being made out if you look at the individual caps. There’s only one debutant, reserve prop Danny Southwork, and most of the players have played at least a clutch of games for Wales.
It is not as if this team has been assembled by someone going into Cardiff’s Outback pub and asked “Is there anyone here who wants to play the Springboks?”
Final test week of 2025 🔥💪
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) November 27, 2025
🎟 https://t.co/NsWB4wy9oD#CymruAmByth pic.twitter.com/QKgZHbdhwa
The Welsh celebrated scoring 26 points against the All Blacks last week and they even celebrated the limited time they were competitive against Argentina in the first game they played in the autumn international season. Of course, their celebration of the win over Japan, achieved with a last gasp penalty kick, was off the charts.
So they are a team that will be going for the small wins, looking for improvements within their game, and that means they could be inspired and troublesome for a while. But they also play a style of attacking rugby that could play into the Bok hands. If the visitors get in and score early, we could see it get ugly. From a points scoring perspective that it, hopefully not in the testosterone driven physical contest kind of way we saw last week in Dublin.
For this is a day set for someone like Feinberg-Mngomezulu to sign off the season with a reminder of just how much the Boks have evolved their all round game in the first two years of this World Cup cycle.
Teams
Wales: Blair Murray, Ellis Mee, Joe Roberts, Joe Hawkins, Rio Dyer, Dan Edwards, Kieran Hardy, Aaron Wainwright, Alex Mann, Taine Plumtree, Rhys Davies, Ben Carter, Keiron Assitati, Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas. Replacements: Brodie Coghlan, Danny Southworth, Christian Coleman, James Ratti, Morgan Morse, Rueben Morgan-Williams, Callum Sheedy, Ben Thomas.
South Africa: Damian Willemse, Ethan Hooker, Damian de Allende, Andre Esterhuizen, Canan Moodie, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Morne van den Berg, Jasper Wiese, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi, Ruan Nortje, Jean Kleyn, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Zachary Porthen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Eben Etzebeth, Marco van Staden, Ben-Jason Dixon, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach.
Referee: Luc Ramos (France)
Kick-off: 5:10pm
Prediction: Springboks to win by at least 35