Wales squad: Four call-ups made to cover absence of 13 while Springboks train with only 25 players
Ellis Mee has been added to the Wales squad.
Wales head coach Steve Tandy has unveiled a 30-man squad that includes four new faces after 13 players were released ahead of their clash with the Springboks.
Saturday’s Test falls outside of World Rugby’s international window and subsequently both sides have been hit hard by player unavailability due to their club commitments.
Forwards Adam Beard, Rhys Carre, Olly Cracknell, Archie Griffin, Nicky Smith, Dafydd Jenkins and Freddie Thomas have all been released, as have key backline players Tomos Williams, Jarrod Evans, Louie Hennessey, Max Llewellyn, Nick Tompkins and Louis Rees-Zammit, with their absences a significant setback for the weekend’s hosts.
Four players called in
Therefore Tandy has added second-row James Ratti, uncapped prop Garyn Phillips (both Ospreys), winger Ellis Mee (Scarlets) and hooker Evan Lloyd (Cardiff) to his squad.
The Wales head coach is also without hooker Liam Belcher due to a neck injury but there is hope that number eight Aaron Wainwright will return for the final match of 2025.
South Africa are in a similar boat in that they are without several first-team regulars due to club commitments but will enter the Principality Stadium Test as heavy favourites.
The Springboks have defeated Japan, France, Italy and Ireland this month with those victories on the road coming on the back of retaining the Rugby Championship trophy.
Meanwhile, Wales stopped their rot with a win over Japan, but that success was sandwiched by defeats to Argentina and New Zealand, who each put over 50 points on them.
Speaking about his list of absences, South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus admits it is a difficult situation but said they’ve planned for it long in advance of this fixture.
“We are going to lose quite a few players,” he said. “We have spoken to our URC friends back in South Africa, and some players need to go back to their provinces, so we will train next week with only 25 players in the group.
“We will assess the injuries and then make some calls. There are quite a few guys who must also go back to Japan. Jesse (Kriel) can’t play, and some of the Japanese clubs asked us nicely for their players.
“They helped us out with the Japan match that was outside the window, and this match is also outside the window.”
Wales squad for Springboks clash
Forwards: Gareth Thomas (Ospreys), Danny Southworth (Cardiff), Garyn Phillips (Ospreys), Dewi Lake (Ospreys, capt), Evan Lloyd (Cardiff), Brodie Coghlan (Dragons), Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff), Christian Coleman (Dragons), Ben Warren (Ospreys), Ben Carter (Dragons), Rhys Davies (Ospreys), James Fender (Ospreys), James Ratti (Ospreys), Taine Plumtree (Scarlets), Alex Mann (Cardiff), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Morgan Morse (Ospreys), Harri Deaves (Ospreys)
Backs: Kieran Hardy (Ospreys), Reuben Morgan-Williams (Ospreys), Dan Edwards (Ospreys), Callum Sheedy (Cardiff), Joe Hawkins (Scarlets), Ben Thomas (Cardiff), Joe Roberts (Scarlets), Jacob Beetham (Cardiff), Rio Dyer (Dragons), Blair Murray (Scarlets), Tom Rogers (Scarlets), Ellis Mee (Scarlets)