Springboks heavy favourites to beat Wales in final Test – bookies

Jacques Nienaber (Photo by Charle Lombard/Gallo Images)

Jacques Nienaber (Photo by Charle Lombard/Gallo Images)

The Springboks will comfortably dispatch Wales in Saturday’s final Test in Cape Town, local bookmakers believe.

The series is level at 1-1 – the Boks edged the first Test in Pretoria 32-29 before Wales claimed a last-gasp 13-12 win in Bloemfontein last weekend.

However, the closely-fought encounters were not enough to convince bookmakers to give Wales much of a chance in the series finale at Cape Town Stadium.

According local betting agency, Betway, the Springboks have an 83% win probability (11.5 handicap favourites). The Boks can be backed at 1.14 odds, while you can make 6.60 times your money if you bet on Wales. A draw can be backed at 30/1 odds.

In total, the Springboks and Wales have played 39 Tests, with South Africa winning 31, losing seven and one game was drawn (6-6 in Cardiff in 1970).

In recent times, though, Wales have fared better by going on a four-game winning streak between 2016 and 2018.

The Boks then won three in a row – 19-16 in the 2019 World Cup semi-finals in Japan, 23-18 in Cardiff last year, and the current series’ opener at Loftus Versfeld – before last week’s reverse at the Free State Stadium.

Saturday’s Test kicks off at 17:05.

Teams:

South Africa

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Trevor Nyakane

Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Elrigh Louw, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux

Wales

TBA on Thursday