Springboks are obvious favourites, despite Daan Human not liking it

No one is giving Wales a chance in their final end-of-year-clash against the Springboks at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.

It is a mis-match of epic proportions, as shown by the World Rugby rankings log, with the Boks at the summit and Wales down in 11^th place.

In terms of results this year, the Boks have won 12 out of 14 matches, with only two losses, after being upset by the Wallabies at Ellis Park, and a close defeat by the All Blacks at Eden Park.

They have then, among other wins, beaten the All Blacks by a record score in Wellington, triumphed over France with 14 men in Paris, and over the past weekend beat Ireland in Dublin, in their biggest results this season.

Wales conversely have lost eight out of 10 games this season, including all five in the Six Nations to finish bottom of the log — again, and in their last four games have played Japan three times, which is where their two wins come from, beating them in Kobe and then edging them 24-23 at home in recent weeks.

Where the Welsh may have received a boost this weekend is the fact the Boks will field a fringe team, having allowed a number of their players to return to their franchise teams, but that has been cancelled out by Wales also losing a large number of players to URC teams due to the match falling outside the international window.

Bok power

But even if Wales were at full strength, they would still not be favourites as the Boks’ fringe brigade is nothing to sneeze at, as they showed a few weeks ago against a full-strength Italy team, winning comfortably despite playing for 68 minutes with 14 men.

It is thus expected to be an easy win for the South Africans on Saturday, although when asked about their favourites tag, scrum coach Daan Human batted it away, while praising their Welsh hosts.

“I don’t believe in favourites tags. It doesn’t help a team. You must have respect for the opposition, so we’ll do our best to prepare as well as we can for this match,” explained Human.

“Wales have quality players, especially their starting front row, and in general, they have guys who can really perform and some with a lot of experience, which is quite similar to our team.”

A win for the Boks will secure a second straight unbeaten end-of-year-tour, after they won all three of their tour matches last year, against Scotland, England and Wales, while this year they have taken out Japan, France, Italy and Ireland, although Human said that isn’t something they are focussed on.

“We set goals at the beginning of the year, and there’s only one game left, so it would be a great achievement if we can get it right. But we don’t think about records and being unbeaten, we simply focus on the next game,” said Human.