The 2025 mid-year international rugby fixtures continue this weekend with a friendly between South Africa and Italy, scheduled for Saturday, 5 July, at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. Let’s take a closer look at the matchup from a betting perspective.
SOUTH AFRICA vs ITALY – click here to bet
South Africa heads into this friendly looking to build on the momentum from a dominant season opener, where they defeated the Barbarians 54–7 in Cape Town. The Springboks will aim to fine-tune their combinations and develop squad depth ahead of the upcoming Rugby Championship. Despite fielding several new faces in their 2025 lineup, their performance last weekend featured strong set pieces and trademark physicality.
It’s also worth noting that South Africa enjoyed a strong 2024 season, winning 11 of their 13 fixtures and losing just twice.
South African Lineup:
Key players such as Handré Pollard, Eben Etzebeth, and Jasper Wiese are expected to feature on Saturday, with Jesse Kriel once again set to lead the South African side.
1.Ox Nche, 2. Malcolm Marx, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 5. Lood de Jager, 6. Marco van Staden, 7. Vincent Tshituka, 8. Jasper Wiese, 9. Morne van den Berg, 10. Handré Pollard, 11. Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12. Damian de Allende, 13. Jesse Kriel (captain), 14. Cheslin Kolbe, 15. Damian Willemse.
Replacements: 16. Bongi Mbonambi, 17. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18. Vincent Koch, 19. RG Snyman, 20. Franco Mostert, 21. Kwagga Smith, 22. Faf de Klerk, 23. Willie le Roux.
Italy come into this encounter with nothing to lose and everything to gain. They opened their mid-season campaign in emphatic fashion last Friday, thrashing Namibia 73–6 in a one-sided contest away from home.
While the Azzurri have shown notable improvement in recent years — highlighted by a 22–15 victory over Wales in the Six Nations and competitive showings against top-tier nations — facing South Africa on home soil remains a formidable challenge. This weekend’s clash at Loftus will be a significant step up.
Italian Lineup:
Italy have blended experience with emerging talent in their squad for this clash, with three players set to make their Test debuts. The team will be led by Niccolò Cannone, who takes on the captaincy for the weekend.
1.Danilo Fischetti, 2. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 3. Simone Ferrari, 4. Niccolò Cannone (captain), 5. Andrea Zambonin, 6. Alessandro Izekor, 7. Manuel Zuliani, 8. Lorenzo Cannone, 9. Alessandro Fusco, 10. Giacomo Da Re, 11. Simone Gesi, 12. Marco Zanon, 13. Tommaso Menoncello, 14. Louis Lynagh, 15. Jacopo Trulla.
Replacements: 16. Pablo Dimcheff, 17. Mirco Spagnolo, 18. Muhamed Hasa, 19. Matteo Canali, 20. Ross Vintcent, 21. David Odiase, 22. Alessandro Garbisi, 23. Giulio Bertaccini.
Head-to-Head:
South Africa holds a dominant record over Italy, having faced them eight times in the past 15 years, with the Springboks winning seven and Italy claiming just one victory. That lone defeat came in 2016, when Italy stunned South Africa 20–18 in Florence. Since then, however, the Boks have responded emphatically, winning every subsequent encounter by margins exceeding 20 points.
Their most recent clash came in 2022, where South Africa secured a convincing 61–21 win away from home.
BETTING AND VERDICT:
South Africa: 1.00
Italy: 36.00
Draw: 151.00
Handicap: South Africa [-40.5]
This handicap looks big but Italy are missing a number of front line players either due to injury or player management. The Boks will be far too strong and I am expecting a huge win.
BET: South Africa -40.5 at 1.90
Note: All prices are correct at the time of writing but subject to change.
