South Africa v Australia Betting Preview

Recommended bet: Handicap – South Africa +6 @ 9/10 (1.90) with TopBetta

The Wallabies come into the game on the back of consecutive heavy losses to the All Blacks, having gone down 38-13 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney and then 40-12 at Eden Park in Auckland.  Those losses came after consecutive defeats to Ireland on home soil in June, so leaves Australia coach Michael Cheika under increasing pressure.

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has already described the Test in Brisbane as a “must win” following his team’s poor performance in going down to a 32-19 loss to Argentina in Mendoza.  That is even more the case for Australia on the backs of four straight defeats and given that they have home advantage.

Before the defeat in Argentina the Springboks had been impressive under Erasmus, who took the coaching reins from an ineffective Allister Coetzee earlier this year.  

The former loose forward had already forged a strong reputation in his time coaching Ireland’s Munster and his arrival triggered immediate improvement with a series triumph over England in June.  South Africa’s opening performance in beating Argentina 34-21 in Kings Park Stadium in Durban in this year’s Rugby Championship was also impressive.

The Springboks look to have an advantage from set-pieces, with their front-row being probably the strongest in the world at present.  There’s little doubt that the likes of Malcolm Marx and Tendai Mtawrira will fancy their chances against a weaker Australian front-row.

This looks set to be a tight game, with both of last year’s matches in the Rugby Championship between these two teams remarkably finishing as draws — first 23-23 in Perth then 27-27 in Bloemfontein.

The betting sees Australia as 1.53 favourites for the match with bet365, South Africa 2.70 with Unibet and the draw a tempting 29.00 with TopBetta given what happened in 2017.  With this looking likely to be close, backing South Africa +6 on the Handicap could be the best option at 9/10 (1.90) with Topbetta.

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