Springboks hoping to further show off their depth against in-form Scotland

The top try scorers (with seven apiece) from Round One of the Nations Championships collide at Loftus Stadium in Pretoria, as World Rugby’s number-one ranked team South Africa aim to extend their impressive winning streak against an in-form Scotland.

Match News and Current Form

The double world champions and double Rugby Championship winners got their 2026 season off to the best possible start, as they comprehensively beat England 45-21 last week to extend their winning run to ten matches now. The Springboks have proven hard to beat on any day, but facing them in their own backyard makes an already daunting task nearly impossible it seems, seeing as they’ve lost just one of their last 14 matches on home soil (W13). The conversation is starting to be had whether this South Africa team is the best world rugby has ever seen, and potentially adding the inaugural Nations Championship to their trophy cabinet would go a long way to cementing their legacy.

There’s plenty of rugby to be played before that trophy is listed and coach Rassie Erasmus has shown how deep their squad runs by making ten changes for this encounter. Half of them take place in the forwards, with a new front-row of Boan Venter, Johan Grobbelaar, and Wilco Louw named, while lock Cobus Wiese and loose forward Evan Roos joins them. Among the backs, a new half-back pairing of Embrose Papier and stalwart Handrè Pollard is formed, and they’ll be governing an incoming back three of Canan Moodie, Edwill van der Merwe, and Aphelele Fassi.

Visitors Scotland should arrive in Pretoria confident they can put up a better fight than the English did, as winning four of their last five matches shows form is on their side currently (L1). Amongst those are wins over England, France, and most recently beating Argentina 47-38 in an entertaining affair in their Nations Championship opener, a result which lifted them from seventh to fifth in the IRB’s world rankings. 

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has made three changes to his starting line-up for this clash, which sees Scotland face South Africa in South Africa for the first time since 2014. The headliner is Finn Russell’s name featuring on the team sheet as the starting fly-half after his recovery from a calf injury, whilst Zander Fagerson and Gregor Brown are promoted to the starting XV after coming off the bench against Argentina.

Head-to-Head History

The Springboks have won 25 of their 30 tests against Scotland (L5), including all seven at home.

Hot Stats and Streaks

The second half produced more points than the first in 11 of South Africa’s last 14 matches.

South Africa have won their last seven matches by 11+ points.

Scotland have won seven of their last nine matches when scoring the first try.

Five of Scotland’s six matches this year finished over the main total points handicap.

Key Players to Watch and Missing Players

The home side’s captain Pieter-Steph du Toit put another huge performance against England, and will be looking to mark this match with a try having scored against Scotland the last time he started against them. Scottish flyhalf Finn Russell usually has a big say in their matches, and has done so the last two times they’ve faced the world champions since he’s scored all their points in the last two H2Hs.

South Africa have plenty of big name players missing, with Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Ox Nche, André Esterhuizen and Ethan Hooker all dealing with injuries. Scotland saw Elliot Millar Mills go down against Argentina, with it being confirmed his tour is unfortunately over as a consequence.

Betting Analysis

Both teams seem to be in try-scoring moods, meaning a bet on over 64.5 total points seems wise.

See the latest squads and team news for the match here.