South Africa vs England Prediction: England can challenge rusty Springboks

It’s been two years since South Africa and England last locked horns, but they will meet on the opening weekend of the Nations Championship (4:40pm BST, live on ITV 4).

Steve Borthwick’s men head into the lion's den to face the world champions, having lost their last four internationals. England come up against a Springboks team although that have only had one match, against the Barbarians, since November and make take time to get into their stride. Read on for my South Africa vs England predictions, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

This is the 48th meeting between these two teams and it’s South Africa that have the upper hand in the head-to-head stats.

The Springboks have won 29 games to England’s 16 and there have been two draws, while South Africa have won the last three in a row.

England go into Saturday’s clash having lost their last four games in the Six Nations and it’s going to need a huge improvement to end that run in Johannesburg.

South Africa vs England Odds

With the world champions winning their last eight matches and having home advantage, it’s no surprise to see that they are the 1/9 favourites.

England are as big as 11/2 to win their Nations Championship opener, while the draw can be backed at 28/1.

Team News

With Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu missing the whole tournament after ankle surgery, Manie Libbok has been given the chance to start at fly-half.

Coach Rassie Erasmus has taken the call to leave experienced prop Wilco Louw out of his 23-man squad, with Thomas du Toit selected at number three.

Rookie Zach Porthen, who plays his club rugby for Stormers, is the Springboks’ prop replacement on the bench.

England have named George Furbank at full-back, with the Northampton Saints star playing for his country for the first time in two years.

Elsewhere, Borthwick has selected forward George Martin for his first England appearance since the 2025 Six Nations.

With regular captain Maro Itoje rested, Jamie George will skipper the team and he is joined in the front-row by Joe Heyes and Ellis Genge

South Africa to win by 1 to 12 Points Inclusive @ 23/10

It’s fair to say that England are a much better team than their Six Nations performances suggest and even though they were poor, they still scored 46 points in Paris against France.

This though is a massive task against a South Africa team that hasn’t lost at home in almost a year and has won four of their last five meetings against Saturday’s opponents.

Playing at altitude in Johannesburg won’t help the visitors’ cause, but England will hope that the hosts could be a bit rusty after a lack of international fixtures this year.

Coach Borthwick will also take heart from the fact that three of the last four meetings between the teams have been decided by a single-figure margin, so perhaps his side can keep the deficit between one and 12.

Anytime Tryscorer - Damian Willemse @ 2/1

The Springboks have scored a massive 302 points across their last six matches, an average of 50.33 per game.

One of their key attacking threats is Damian Willemse, who has now made over 50 appearances for his nation.

The 28-year-old has seven international tries to his name and could benefit from the excellent kicking game of Jack van Poortvliet.

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