Australia v South Africa predictions and rugby union tips: Boks bounce back

Free rugby tips, best bets and analysis for Australia v South Africa in the Rugby Championship in Sydney on Saturday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Arena, 10.30am Saturday

Best bet

South Africa
1pt 11-10 Betfair, Betfred

Match preview

World champions South Africa are bottom of the Rugby Championship after failing to end their Australia hoodoo in Adelaide last week so a good performance is a must from a new-look Springboks side.

Head coach Jacques Nienaber has copped plenty of criticism after back-to-back defeats to the Wallabies and New Zealand, and his cause hasn’t been helped by injuries to star players Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Pieter-Steph du Toit.

Nienaber has this week made eight changes to the team who were flattered by the 25-17 scoreline at the Adelaide Oval - the Boks trailed 25-3 with five minutes to go - and some of those changes should benefit the world champions.

Damian Willemse will have a lot influence in attack after being switched to fly-half, while full-back Willie le Roux will bring more creativity to a Springboks side who've lacked innovation.

There are no such try-scoring worries in the Australia camp. Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete starred in last week’s Test with a try and crunching tackle on Makazole Mapimpi, which set the tone for a dominant Wallabies performance.

Coach Dave Rennie’s reclamation job is going in the right direction but this is still a second-string Wallabies side, one that’s missing Michael Hooper, and they showed in losses to England and Argentina this summer that they’re fallible.

A work-in-progress Australia make little appeal at odds-on, despite their eight-game unbeaten record at home to South Africa, so taking a Boks side who've made some intriguing attacking changes to deliver a much-needed win holds more appeal.

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