The Springboks have had a relatively comfortable start to the 2025 Test season, with a warm-up game against the Barbarians followed by two resounding victories against Italy before now heading into one final July game against Georgia this Saturday.
It should be another comfortable victory for the Springboks in Nelspruit, but they will also want to ensure they head into the Rugby Championship with momentum, another satisfactory win under the belt, and boxes ticked when it comes to team and individual performances.
So, there is still a fair bit on the line as the Springboks prepare to take on Georgia, with kick off at 17:10 at the Mbombela Stadium.
HERE IS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SPRINGBOKS V GEORGIA GAME:
Teams:
Springboks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Cobus Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian Willemse.
Georgia: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Giorig Kveseladze,11 Alexander Todua, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhandidze, 8 Ilia Spanderashvili, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Luka Ivanishvili, 5 Vladimer Chachanidze, 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri, 2 Vano Karkadze, 1 Giorgi Akhaladze.
Replacements: 16 Irakli Kvatadze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Demur Epremeidze, 20 Sando Mamamtavrishvili, 21 Tornike Jalagonia, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Tornike Kakhoidze
Date: Saturday, 19 July
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-off: 17.10
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Hollie Davidson (Scotland), Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
STATS AND FACTS
Head-to-head v Georgia:
Played: 2, Won: 2; Points for: 86; Points against: 26; Tries for: 12; Tries against: 1; Win%: 100%
- It will be the Georgians’ second trip to South Africa to face the Springboks – the same number of times the nations have met to date. Their first outing was in the pool stages of the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia where the Springboks won 46-19, and the second time in Pretoria in 2021 when the Boks registered a 40-9 victory.
- Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as the most capped Springbok of all time to 133 Test matches when he takes the field.
- This match will mark Siya Kolisi’s first match back in the green and gold in the 2025 season.
- Kurt-Lee Arendse requires only five more points to score 100 Test points for the Springboks.
- Kolisi will require only seven more Test appearances after this match to become the ninth Springbok in the history of South African rugby to earn 100 Test caps.
- The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 484.
- There are 165 caps in the backline, with 319 caps amongst the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 437 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline are 24, the forwards 40, while the players on the bench average 55.
WHAT IS YOUR SCORE PREDICTION?
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