South Africa vs Ireland Preview & Prediction | 2024 Summer Internationals
Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
The top two ranked teams in the world meet in Pretoria in what promises to be another high quality encounter between the Springboks and the Irish
START DATE/TIME: UK – Saturday, July 6th at 4pm / US ET – Saturday, July 6th at 11am / US PT – Saturday, July 6th at 8am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Action / US – the match will be streaming on FloRugby and the FloSports app.
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – SkyGo app / US – the match will be streaming on FloRugby and the FloSports app.
SOUTH AFRICA FORM: WORLD CHAMPIONS LOOK TO KICK ON
South Africa show no signs of letting up following their World Cup triumph last November and they will be eager to put a marker down against the Irish. They have already handed Wales a beating two weeks ago as they overcame Gatland’s side 41-13 two weeks ago, and now they welcome Ireland to their homeland.
LAST FIVE: WWWWW
IRELAND FORM: IRISH LOOK TO EXTEND THREE-MATCH RUN AGAINST SPRINGBOKS
Ireland arrived in South Africa this week with good confidence as they have beaten their opponents in their last three meetings. All of those matches have been in European – two in Dublin and one in Paris – but they know they face a different beast away from home.
LAST FIVE: WLWWW
SOUTH AFRICA TEAM NEWS:
SQUAD:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
REPLACEMENTS:
16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
IRELAND TEAM NEWS:
SQUAD:
15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
REPLACEMENTS:
16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 James Ryan, 20 Ryan Baird, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Garry Ringrose
SOUTH AFRICA VS IRELAND PREDICTION
While many will look at the All Blacks versus England as the one to watch on paper, there is no doubting that this is the match of the day between arguably the best two teams in world rugby. South Africa will be motivated against the Irish who have been something of a bogey team for them in recent times. On home soil, they will have the edge there and this match is being played at altitude which will certainly play in their favour. They have been in town for significantly longer than the Irish to prepare for this match and that should make a key difference. The Springboks are favoured to get the win here albeit in a close encounter.
SOUTH AFRICA VS IRELAND TIP: SOUTH AFRICA TO WIN
