Australia v South Africa: Prediction, Tips and Odds

The wait for the 2024 Rugby Championship is soon over and all eyes will descend on Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium in the early hours of Saturday morning for Australia against South Africa.

While South Africa have won the last two World Cups in 2019 and 2023, the Boks have been unable to transfer that global success to Rugby Championship titles.

They have won just one title in the last 14 of this competition in its formats of the Tri-Nations and the Rugby Championship.

New Zealand have been the dominant force with seven titles in the last eight tournaments, but South Africa are this year’s pre-competition favourites.

Australia are the ones to have a first shot at the world champions, in what will be Joe Schmidt’s first Rugby Championship game in charge of the Wallabies.

The New Zealander is already learning the scale of the task ahead of him and the world champions will provide formidable opponents in Brisbane.

Australia v South Africa betting tips and predictions

South Africa -9.5 handicap - 10/11

South Africa have won the last two meetings between these sides and the Boks look capable of making it three in a row against the Wallabies this weekend for the first time since 2013.

Australia have a decent recent record on home soil against the South Africans, winning three of their last four games.

However, Australia are not the side they once were and collecting the wooden spoon in the Rugby Championship last year shows the scale of the task ahead of Schmidt after the disastrous tenure of Eddie Jones.

It’s going to take some time to rebuild this Wallabies side, who were less than convincing in their summer wins over recent Six Nations strugglers Wales and also Georgia.

South Africa are close to the finished article and they should be able to make it three wins on the spin against the Wallabies, while falling on the right side of the -9.5 handicap available.

South Africa to win both halves - 6/5

Considering the strength of South Africa’s kicking game, they will look to put Australia’s back-back three under considerable pressure from the off.

The Boks are not interested in playing from deep and they will kick all they need to get the territory needed to make use of their incredible strength from the set-piece.

Head coach Rassie Erasmus will have studied Australia carefully over the summer and, while the Wallabies have a habit of scoring the opening try in this game, South Africa are good value at 6/5 to win both halves on Saturday.

Australia to score the first try - 21/20

Looking back on the recent meetings between these sides, Australia have tended to make strong starts before South Africa’s power game comes to the fore.

In four of the last five games between these sides, the Wallabies have been the ones to bag the first try of the contest.

Marika Koroibete scored the opening try in the last meeting between these sides at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria last year, before the Boks went on to win the game 43-12.

Australia are worth considering to continue the trend of scoring the game’s first try, but it’s hard to see them going on to cause an upset against the Boks at the business end of the match.

Australia v South Africa odds

Australia - 3/1
Draw - 25/1
South Africa - 1/4

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.