Nick Mallett says the Springboks shouldn’t try to run Wales off their feet in Cardiff on Saturday.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has made nine changes to the team that beat Ireland in Dublin for their final Test of 2025, with several players released to their clubs as this match falls outside World Rugby’s international window.
Wales are in an even more makeshift state. They are without 13 first-choice players who have gone back to their English and French employers, and come into the game as massive underdogs after heavy home defeats to Argentina and the All Blacks, and a narrow win against Japan.
Despite that, Mallett says this is not the occasion for the Springboks to loosen the structure and try to turn it into a running exhibition.
“From a rugby technical point of view, it’s been really interesting that the teams trying to keep ball in hand and play running rugby have struggled,” he said on the Talking Boks podcast.
“We go back to our game at Ellis Park when we decided to run the Australians off their feet and we were run off our own feet. That’s exactly the sort of game they’re good at – transitions, capitalising on mistakes, interceptions.
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“The way in which this Wales team plays looks to be a ball-in-hand type of game. They try to hold onto possession and win penalties that way. There’s going to be enthusiasm, courage and bravery there.
“But if the Boks stick to our usual template – dominate the set-pieces, put high balls up on their players, and don’t try to run them off their feet – we should be fine.
“We must force them into mistakes, build a 10- to 15-point lead, and then the opposition start playing from deep, it gets worse for them, and you can score off their mistakes as well as your own good play.
“That’s all we really need to concentrate on: not looking at this Welsh team and saying, ‘We’re going to hammer these guys,’ because rugby doesn’t work like that. You have to build an innings, as people say.”
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The Boks are chasing an unbeaten five-match end-of-year tour, despite rotation and disruption caused by club demands and player management.
“What is extraordinary is the size of our backline [for the Wales Test],” Mallett said. “I don’t think there’s any guy under about 1.90m, maybe Damian Willemse and Cobus Reinach are slightly under.
“You’ve got Ethan Hooker, you’ve got Canan Moodie – all over 6’2, 6’3 – Damian de Allende is huge, Andre Esterhuizen is huge, and Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu] is far bigger than people realise. When he’s standing next to Esterhuizen he looks like a backline player, but in a crowd he’s a big guy – around 95kg.”
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“We’ve got a really physical backline, all of whom can play in different positions. Both wings can play in the centres, the fullback can play at flyhalf and vice versa, the flyhalf can play fullback, the scrumhalf can play on the wing, we’ve got a centre who can go in and play flank if we have to.
“It’s an extraordinary group of players Rassie has developed, who have confidence playing in more than one position at international level – that’s the key.”
Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images
