An almighty clash between old enemies takes centre stage on Saturday, as South Africa and England play out a repeat of their 2019 Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham.
The pair help polish off the international rugby fixtures in the Northern Hemisphere in fine style in London.
Wales and Australia, meanwhile, complete their respective campaigns when they meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
International Rugby: England vs South Africa – kick off 19.30 SAST
All roads lead to Twickenham for Saturday’s international rugby showdown between the Springboks and England.
It’s a repeat of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Japan, in which South Africa triumphed in a wave of emotion as captain Siya Kolisi lifted the famous trophy.
The 2023 edition is also less than a year away, with the coaching teams of both sides having earned a reputation for focusing on the global showpiece at the expense of short-term results.
And those accusations haven’t been dampened by recent events.
The Boks lost their first two tour matches at the hands of Ireland and France before perking up considerably to see off Italy in Genoa last weekend.
Eddie Jones was under the pump, too, as his Red Rose side slumped to opening defeat against Argentina in front of an aghast home crowd.
But they went from restless to roused in west London a week ago, as the English roared back to draw in a thrilling finish against New Zealand’s All Blacks.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber has spent more time than he would like batting away questions about his Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, who is serving a two-match ban for posting a stream of sarcastic analysis videos online.
A collective victim complex, then, becomes an intriguing backdrop to the selection of young tyro Evan Roos at eighth man.
The Stormers starlet is one of a host of squad changes at the end of a grueling tour, with experienced Jesse Kriel, Makazole Mapimpi and Eben Etzebeth all restored to the starting team.
Jamie George and Mako Vunipola are brought in to add some muscle to the English front row, while Manu Tuilagi brings up his 50th cap.
England Starting XV: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (captain), 11 Jonny May, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 David Ribbans, 20 Sam Simmonds, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Jack Nowell.
South Africa Starting XV: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Albertus Smith, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Canan Moodie.
Rugby predictions for fixtures on 26 November 2022
Saturday’s other international rugby fixture sees chastened Wales host Australia in Cardiff.
It’s an opportunity to end 2022 on some sort of high for the hosts, who collapsed to an unthinkable defeat at home to Georgia a week ago.
The Wallabies are running on their nerves, meanwhile, with three of their four tour matches so far being decided by a single point, leading to victory in Scotland before the agony of defeats to Italy and France.
Last weekend’s tussle in Dublin wasn’t much relief either, as they were picked off 13-10 by the men in green.
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds. For example, if a team’s odds are 2.30, the expected chance of winning is 43%. If the odds are 1.62 the expected chance of winning is 62% and so on. These are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change. Where there is no value listed, the odds were not available at the time of writing. Score margins use the methodology developed by Rugby Vision.
| Chance of winning (%) | Points margin | |
| Wales | 53,6 | 1 |
| Australia | 46,4 | |
| Chance of winning (%) | Points margin | |
| England | 52,1 | 1 |
| South Africa | 47,9 |
