World Rugby Rankings: Update ahead of Wales vs South Africa - Springboks end 2025 on top

Even if Wales produce an upset at the Principality Stadium, the Springboks can lose only a maximum of three rating points, keeping them comfortably ahead of New Zealand. Victory brings no ranking reward for the Boks due to the vast 19.71-point pre-match gap, and even a Welsh win by 15+ points wouldn’t shift Wales from 11th.

But the rankings are only part of the story. This Test falls from the side that beat Ireland. The headline is Cobus Reinach’s 50th cap, with the veteran scrum-half the lone specialist back on a 7–1 bench split. New faces step up across the squad, including first-time starters Gerhard Steenekamp and Johan Grobbelaar, while Siya Kolisi again captains a pack built for attrition.

outside the international window, leaving both nations without a raft of first-choice stars now returned to clubs across the Premiership, URC and Japan Rugby League One.

Rassie Erasmus has still named a formidable, if heavily altered, matchday 23 featuring nine changes

Wales, meanwhile, have been forced into a staggering 12 changes from the side that battled the All Blacks last weekend. With a plethora of English PREM based players unavailable and Top 14 lock Adam Beard back in France, head coach Steve Tandy has gone back to the drawing board for this incoming clash with the Springboks.

Aaron Wainwright returns to the back row, and Cardiff prop Danny Southworth is set for a debut as Steve Tandy’s stretched side look to harness the Principality crowd one last time this autumn.

15. Blair Murray 14. Ellis Mee 13. Joe Roberts 12. Joe Hawkins 11. Rio Dyer 10. Dan Edwards 9. Kieran Hardy 1. Gareth Thomas 2. Dewi Lake 3. Keiron Assiratti 4. Ben Carter 5. Rhys Davies 6. Taine Plumtree 7. Alex Mann 8. Aaron Wainwright

Replacements:
16. Brodie Coghlan 17. Danny Southworth 18. Christian Coleman 19. James Ratti 20. Morgan Morse 21. Reuben Morgan-Williams 22. Callum Sheedy 23. Ben Thomas

15. Damian Willemse 14. Ethan Hooker 13. Damian de Allende 12. Andre Esterhuizen 11. Canan Moodie 10. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 9. Morne van den Berg 1. Gerhard Steenekamp 2. Johan Grobbelaar 3. Wilco Louw 4. Jean Kleyn 5. Ruan Nortje 6. Siya Kolisi 7. Franco Mostert 8. Jasper Wiese

Replacements:
16. Bongi Mbonambi 17. Zachary Porthen 18. Asenathi Ntlabakanye 19. Eben Etzebeth 20. Marco van Staden 21. Ben-Jason Dixon 22. Kwagga Smith 23. Cobus Reinach