Why I am backing a big Springboks win

I am backing the Springboks to beat Wales by 20 points in the three-Test series opener at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, writes Mark Keohane.

This is more a compliment to the strength of the Springboks squad than it is meant to insult or disrespect Wales.

The visitors will be competitive for the first hour but the Springboks replacement players, altitude and a capacity crowd at Loftus will combine to finish Wales off in that final quarter.

No team in international rugby boasts a replacement front row of Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch, and it is in the forwards that South Africa will have the biggest advantage.

Wales’s back are physically imposing and they have express pace in their wingers, but it is the unrelenting physicality of the Bok forwards that will prove too much for the Welsh.

READ: MARK KEOHANE ON ELTON JANTJIES IN SUNDAY TIMES

The has been talk of some of the Springboks players being underdone for the Test, especially flyhalf Elton Jantjies, who hasn’t played a match this season.

Jantjies underwent surgery in January but has been training with the Springboks for the past month and I believe he will rise to the occasion and deliver a flyhalf masterclass for the Boks.

WATCH: MARK KEOHANE AND SA RUGBY MAGAZINE EDITOR ZELIM NEL PREVIEW ALL SATURDAY’S INTERNATIONALS

#Watch – @mark_keohane expects the @Springboks to come out firing and smash Wales by at least 20 points at Loftus on Saturday.

What is your prediction? pic.twitter.com/IiJ78Wci66

— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) June 30, 2022

READ: Mallett: ‘Only one outcome’ in Boks vs Wales