South Africa vs Australia Prediction: Australia could pull an upset in this opener

Loftus Versfeld Stadium will serve as the venue for the opening match of the 2023 Rugby Championship, which will see South Africa take on Australia. After finishing in second and third place, respectively, in the last event, there is no question that these teams will be feeling confident about getting off to a good start in this year's competition. Will the underdog Australian team be able to pull off an upset on the road, or will South Africa once again demonstrate their strength?

South Africa - home side must show class

South Africa, the current holders of the world championship, will begin the competition at home against Australia with the goal of winning the tournament for the first time since 2019. Both teams have potential for improvement in their quest to win the Rugby Championship. Last year, the home team gave the defending champions, New Zealand, a run for their money but ultimately fell short by one point. After having what might be characterized as a satisfactory output in 2022, during which they won eight of their 13 matches and lost five, the Springboks enter the year of the Rugby Championship with the highest target on their backs. However, they will be aware that in order to be able to win this year's championship, they must be the finest versions of themselves. Since they've never lost to the Australians at this venue previously (W7), beginning their campaign against Australia at Pretoria's Lotus Versfeld might help them get off to the perfect start.

Australia - history could repeat itself

The last time new head coach Eddie Jones coached at Loftus Versfeld was during the 2007 Super Rugby final round, when the Blue Bulls humiliated his Queensland Reds team 92-3. When he arrives at Loftus Versfeld, he will be aiming to reinvent not only his team of players but also himself. However, it will be his responsibility to restore Australia to their former glory as quickly as is humanly feasible. Considering that they most recently won the Rugby Championship in 2015, the same year they made it to the final of the RWC, this seems like a decent place to begin. In order for this to occur, Australia will need to turn around their performance from the previous year, in which they won only five of their 14 matches (L9), and this is something that Jones appears to be tackling by bringing youth to the team by picking four debutantes. Tom Hooper continues his meteoric rise by being picked as a starter at number six, while his three uncapped teammates, Carter Gordon, Richie Arnold, and Zane Nonggorr, are all scheduled to come off the bench. Suliasi Vunivalu, whom Jones has regarded as having the potential to become the best winger in the world of rugby in the future, will be given the opportunity to make his run-on debut on the wing, and flanker Michael Hooper and prop James Slipper have been appointed as the team's assistant captain.

Head-Head Highlights

The host team, South Africa, have won three of their previous seven matches dating back to 2018, while Australia have won four. Three out of their last five meetings ended in favor of Australia. The points have reached over in four out of their most recent five meetings.

Expert Betting Tips

Both clubs are likely to send their top players to compete in this match, so it's going to be an exciting ride regardless of the outcome. Despite this, South Africa are the favorite to win this match according to the bookmakers, and when you combine that with the fact that this team has a strong record of victories at home against Australia, I feel they will come out on top. In the meantime, I think that this match is going to end with many points, and since Australia also has a shot at this, they should be able to score many points and bring the spread closer here.