Springboks back depth as they face Wales without big-name stars

It’s undoubtedly a blow to be without several frontline stars for this weekend’s final Test of the 2025 season, but the Springboks have grown used to constant team changes over the past year — and they should still approach Saturday’s clash against Wales with minimal disruption.

The match in Cardiff falls outside World Rugby’s international window, leaving both sides without key players. Even so, the world champions are expected to have too much depth and quality for their hosts at the Principality Stadium.

South Africa will be missing World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, Boan Venter, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager (suspended), RG Snyman, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Grant Williams, Handré Pollard, Manie Libbok, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe and Edwill van der Merwe, all of whom have returned to their provincial unions or clubs.

Despite the Boks being widely viewed as favourites, scrum coach Daan Human insists they are not entertaining that label. South Africa boasts a strong record against Wales, even in Cardiff, and their last defeat at the Principality Stadium came in 2018 — Rassie Erasmus’s first year back at the helm.

This season, the Springboks have won 11 of their 13 Tests, while Wales have managed just two victories from 10 outings.

Human stressed that the visitors cannot afford any complacency and that Wales deserves full respect, regardless of the disruption on both sides.

“Changing up the team is not a new thing for us, because week in and week out, we play with a different team after making some changes (for Tests),” Human said, on Monday.

“We are used to it, but it is always a loss not to have those quality players available. I can imagine it is the same for them, especially the players who they might lose playing in the Premiership or URC.

“However, it is another opportunity for the players who faced Italy (a week ago), not that I am suggesting the team will look like that. But, a favourites tag doesn’t help a team.”

According to Human, the players adapted well to conditions in Cardiff after arriving on a chartered flight from Dublin.

Following their strong scrummaging performance against the Irish, Human will hope for more of the same from the Bok engine to subdue Wales. He also warned that the home side will have some quality players that the world champions should be aware of.

“My father always tells me: ‘Don’t tell me what you are going to do, tell me what you have done’. I am going to keep it that simple,” he said, answering a question on whether he wants to see the Boks do the same thing in the scrum against the Welsh.

“They have some quality players in their pack, especially the starting front row. Their captain is very competitive and an important cog. I think Faletau (Taulupe Faletau, eighthman) might be in the mix for Wales. They have quality players, like us.

“We’ve set certain goals for ourselves in the year, and weekly we’ve said that we won’t look further than the next game. Now, we are at the final game and staying unbeaten on the November tour would be great for us.

“But, we are not thinking about records all the time or being unbeaten on tour. It is about the next game.”

Erasmus will announce his team on Thursday.