Wales will play their last Test match of the year tomorrow at Principality Stadium, where they will entertain the World Champions.
World number one and back-to-back World Champions South Africa head to the Welsh capital, to play a Welsh side that are closer to Hong Kong in the World rankings than themselves.
Perhaps this shows how much of a disastrous year 2024 has been for Welsh Rugby.
Wales come into the game on the back of 11 consecutive defeats, and a loss tomorrow against the Springboks will leave them without a win in a calendar year for the first time since 1937 (Albeit that year Wales only played three games).
Wales come into the encounter after losing to Australia last Sunday. This was Wales’s 17th loss out of 23 Tests under Warren Gatland, and they have now slipped to a record lowest ranking position of 11th in the World. The last time South Africa visited Cardiff, it finished 52-16, and more recently, back in June, the Springboks won 41-13.
Team News:
Gatland has made four changes to his side that lost 52-20 against Australia, with Sam Costelow coming into the XV replacing Gareth Anscombe, who drops onto the bench.
Dragons’ winger Rio Dyer gets his first start of the Autumn as Taine Plumtree comes back into the starting lineup ahead of Aaron Wainwright. With Adam Beard out with a knee injury, he is replaced by Christ Tshiunza. Freddie Thomas could potentially make his debut as he is named on the bench.
Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks side has made seven changes from the side that beat England 29-20 at Allianz Stadium. In the half-backs, brothers Jordan and Jaden Hendrikse are starting, and Welsh-qualified Cameron Hanekom is set to make his debut from the bench.
Pre-Match Thoughts:
Speaking after the Captain’s Run, Max Llewellyn said: “Yeah, it’s been a pretty tough week, obviously, following the result we had, but I don’t know, we’ve been working really hard, and I can’t fault the boys at all with how hard they’re working. And we’re just looking to try to do some stuff right, really.
“And it’s obviously going to be tough challenge this week against one of the best teams in the world, but go out there with the confidence of we’ve got nothing to lose.
“People aren’t really expecting too much, so we’re just looking to try to get a bit of a better performance.
“I think we all understand personally and as a team, we haven’t performed to our potential and how well we could be doing that. So just being able to do this doesn’t matter who your opponent is, it’s an opportunity to show how well we can perform as an individual and as a team.
“Like I just alluded to then, in terms of like the boys understand we haven’t been performing well enough, so it definitely comes into it.
“But in terms of, like, the confidence going to a game, there’s always a belief that you can win, otherwise you’re in the wrong sport, you’re in the wrong industry,” Llewelyn said.
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