RWC Semi Final Preview – South Africa vs Wales

The second Semi Final of RWC 2019 will see South Africa and Wales going head-to-head in Yokohama on Sunday. With neither side having reached a RWC Final since 2007 it guarantees that at least one of the finalists will be different to that of RWCs 2011 and 2015.

South Africa enter the match following a dominant second half display against Japan. Their Quarter Final win followed impressive performances against Namibia, Italy, and Canada. All told the Springboks are in very good shape.

Just one change has been made to the side that defeated the Japanese. It comes on the right wing with Cheslin Kolbe ruled out with an injury. Replacing the Toulouse flier is S’busiso Nkosi, one of the most dangerous finishers in the game today.

Wales Head Coach Warren Gatland has been forced into starting Leigh Halfpenny at fullback. He takes over from Liam Williams who was injured in training this week. The change is one of three made for the Semi Final.

The additional changes see Ross Moriarty, and Jonathan Davies starting at N8 and outside center respectively. Moriarty replaces the injured Josh Navidi while Davies’ return sees Owen Watkin dropping to the bench.

International competition between the Springboks and Dragons dates back to 1906. South Africa were 11-0 winners in the inaugural test match in Swansea. Over the year there have been 35 matches played with South Africa winning 28 and Wales 6. The teams also competed to a 6-6 draw in 1970.

The four most recent matches were all won by Wales though none of the games took place in South Africa and the Springboks were never at full-strength in these matches.

Performances and player strength both favor a South African win. ARN predicts that Wales’ unbeaten RWC 2019 campaign will conclude on Sunday. With a projected Springboks win by 8 points the Africans are expected to be the team joining either England or New Zealand in the final.

 

RWC 2019 RESULTS – SOUTH AFRICA
L – South Africa 23-13 New Zealand
W – South Africa 57-3 Namibia
W – South Africa 49-3 Italy
W – South Africa 66-7 Canada
W – Japan 3-26 South Africa

WALES RWC 2019 RESULTS
W – Wales 43-14 Georgia
W – Wales 29-25 Australia
W – Wales 29-17 Fiji
W – Wales 35-13 Uruguay
W – Wales 20-19 France

W – Win
L – Loss
D – Draw

 

TEAMS

SOUTH AFRICA
1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Lood de Jager, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt.), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 9 Faf de Klerk, 10 Handre Pollard, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 14 S’busiso Nkosi, 15 Willie Le Roux

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Francois Louw, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn

WALES
1 Wyn Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Tomas Francis, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (capt.), 6 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Ross Moriarty, 9 Gareth Davies, 10 Dan Biggar, 11 Josh Adams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 13 Jonathan Davies, 14 George North, 15 Leigh Halfpenny

Replacements: 16. Elliot Dee, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Owen Watkin

Date: Sunday October 27
Kick-Off: 18:00 local (02:00 Pacific, 05:00 Eastern, 06:00 Rio de la Plata)
Venue: International Stadium, Yokohama
Referee: Jerome Garces (France)
Assistant Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)