South Africa vs. New Zealand Prediction on August 31, 2024

Match info

Round 3 of the four-team annual Southern Hemisphere men’s rugby union competition, the 2024 Rugby Championship, is scheduled to take place at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday, August 31, at 5 p.m. local time. While a good running game between the host nation of South Africa, the favorite at bookmakers that accept Rapid Transfer, and New Zealand is predicted, the scrum battle could be crucial.

Meeting statistics

In a duel between the “Springboks” and “All Blacks” on Saturday, one of the areas the home team will try to gain the upper hand in is the anticipated massive scrum. The set piece at Ellis Park will probably give the two teams, who are well-known for their attacking strategies in the Rugby Championship, a base from which to launch their offensive ideas.

The South Africa props will be licking their lips for the battle against the New Zealanders after they dominated the set piece against Australia in Brisbane at the tournament opening and had some uncontested scrums in their most recent match, again versus Australia, in Perth a little over a week ago. In their scrum battle against Argentina, the second of the two matches they played in the tournament thus far, New Zealand had an amazing day and will pose a serious challenge to their hosts on Saturday. However, following the injury of prop Ethan de Groot, a potent scrummager, the "All Blacks" might be exposed this weekend.

With World Cup winner Ox Nché as his backup, loosehead prop Gerhard Steenekamp is ready for his debut start against New Zealand and may be plunged into the deep end by coach Rassie Erasmus. Following an injury, double world champion Steven Kitshoff is back in the “Boks” lineup, but he doesn’t appear prepared for the kind of test South Africa will face on Saturday, having just played in half of a Currie Cup match in Johannesburg. This week, the reigning Rugby World Cup champions received some unfavorable news: enforcer locks Salmaan Moerat, Eben Etzebeth, and all-rounder RG Snyman are all expected to miss the match due to injuries.

Match analytics

Even though South Africa will be very much weakened in this match because of injuries, it still has enough capacity to overcome New Zealand, even with an eight-point margin, and resume its dominance in the 2024 Rugby Championship; currently, they are 2-0.

Tip: handicap 1 (-7.5), with odds of 1.95 on STS.

Results of the forecast

Successful forecast. South Africa vs. New Zealand 31:28