Ireland vs South Africa Prediction – Autumn Internationals 2022: Who Will Win?

🏠 Overview of Ireland

Ireland is a small nation, but it is one that definitely punches above its weight when it comes to sports such as rugby. In fact, to give you an idea as to just how good they are, they are currently ranked as the best team in the rugby world. How did they go about claiming the coveted top spot? Well, they went to New Zealand in the summer of 2022 and walked away with a 2-1 series win, making them just the fifth touring team to head to New Zealand and overturn them on their own patch. The last team to manage this was France way back in 1994.

Ireland and South Africa have met on a rugby field a total of 26 times, and South Africa have won 18 of those matches to Ireland's 7. However, from the last five matches that these two teams have played, Ireland have won three of them, with their last win being a 38-3 drubbing in the 2017 Autumn Nations series. The fact that these two teams have not played each other for five years is a tragedy in our opinion, but better late than never, as they say.

How did Ireland perform in the 2022 Six Nations? Well, the Men in Green has a very decent campaign, finishing second in the table behind the French, who conquered all and picked up the Grand Slam. In their match against France, they lost by just 6 points, so they were only one converted try away from picking up some more silverware. Their best win of the 2022 Six Nations was probably their 32-15 win over England at Twickenham, which was their biggest ever win at the Home of Rugby - their previous best was a 13-point win back in 1964.

They then obviously took this form with them to New Zealand, picking up a series win that not many avid rugby betting fans would have put their hard-earned money on. If they manage to play this way in their Autumn Nations Cup 2022 matches against South Africa, Fiji, and Australia, then we do not see any reason why they should not be walking away with three nice wins under their belts.

👨‍💼 Strength of the Ireland Manager

The current manager of the Ireland rugby team is Andy Farrell, and it is fair to say that after a tricky start where many Irish rugby fans wanted him gone, that he is now showing his worth as a manager. In fact, at this current moment in time, it is probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that he is one of the best coaches in world rugby.

One of his qualities that makes him such a good coach is the fact that he does not let one defeat get to him. This was seen during their record-breaking trip to New Zealand - the All Blacks won the first match 42-19 to give Ireland an uphill battle to claim the series, and while Irish rugby fans were fearing the worst, Farrell and his coaching staff obviously has other ideas. They clearly saw enough from the first match to believe that this Irish team could beat the All Blacks, and the turnaround was remarkable. The ability to fix issues in real-time during the toughest series highlighted Farrell's quality as an international rugby coach.

In addition to this, Farrell has a great feel for the psyche and environment of a team, and this is really important since success is something that depends on the dynamics of a group. If a team is disjointed, for whatever reason, then they are not going to be winning many rugby matches. He knows when a player needs an arm around their shoulder or a kick up the backside, and this is a quality that helps him to get the best out of his players.

A great example of this is Jamison Gibson-Park. For many years he had to be content with a spot on the bench for Leinster, but having qualified to play for Ireland due to the residency rules, the New Zealander has become a very important part of Farrell's Ireland since he helped to lessen the load that is on Johnny Sexton's shoulders. Other players that Farrell has managed to improve include Andrew Porter, Josh van der Flier, Bundee Aki, and Caelan Doris.

While the press and fans will give most of the credit for their recent success to the players, it would be wrong of us to not give Farrell the credit he deserves since he has definitely had a very positive effect on Irish rugby.

⭐ Ireland Players to Watch

The Irish might have a small pool of rugby players to choose from when compared to the likes of England and France, but they are definitely not lacking in quality players. They have quality to choose from in every position on the field, and in the table below we are going to take a look at three Irish players that we feel you should keep an eye on during the Autumn tests 2022.

✈️ Overview of South Africa

South Africa have had a quality rugby team for some time now, and they really are one of those sides that no other team relishes taking on. This is because when you take on the Springboks, you will feel that you are hitting a mountain whenever you get tackled or put a tackle in. To say that South Africa is the most physical rugby team in world rugby would not be an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination.

The Rugby Championship came to an end on the 24th of September, and New Zealand were the champions. However, South Africa only missed out on the title due to the fact that New Zealand picked up a losing bonus point against Argentina - New Zealand finished on 19 points, while the Springboks finished on a total of 18 points. During this tournament, South Africa picked up some very impressive wins against New Zealand and Australia. The fact that this tournament finished at the end of September is something that might work in South Africa's favour for this opening match of the Autumn rugby season since they might not be as rusty as the Irish team.

In summer 2022, South Africa welcomed Wales for three Test matches. This was the seventh time that a Welsh rugby team had toured South Africa, and in the ten matches that were played, the Springboks had been victorious in all of them. The South Africans won the first test in Pretoria with a score of 32-29, and then the following weekend Wales made history by claiming their first ever Test win in South Africa with a 13-12 victory in Bloemfontein. The decider was played in Cape Town the following week, and the Springboks put in a dominant display to win 30-14 and take the series.

South Africa will also take on France and England over the course of November, so to say that they have a really tough tour ahead of them would be quite the understatement. However, it will be great to see the top teams in Europe take on one of the best teams in the Southern Hemisphere.

👨‍💼 Strength of the South Africa Manager

Jacques Nienaber has been the head coach of the South African rugby team since January 2020, and what was unusual about his appointment is the fact that he had no head coach experience at the time of his appointment. Due to the pandemic, he actually had to wait over a year before he got to field his first South African team against Georgia in preparation for the 2021 British and Irish Lions series. Despite his lack of head coach experience, he clearly has some skill as a coach since he managed the Springboks to a 2-1 series win.

So, what are his main qualities as a coach? Well, one of them has got to be the fact that he excels in defence and he is now well known for building teams that are extremely hard to break down. During the 2019 World Cup, Nienaber was the defence coach for Rassie Erasmus and his South Africa side, and on their way to landing the Webb Ellis Cup they only conceded four tries, with two of these coming against Kiwis in the opening match. A team that has an impenetrable defensive wall is obviously one that will go on to win more matches than they lose.

Erasmus once described Nienaber as a person that fits in with everyone, and will try to make friends with whoever he can. He is the guy that will be the icebreaker when any awkward situation arises. With such a man at the helm, it is safe to say that the South African dressing room must be a fun place to be with a great atmosphere, and when this is the case you will usually end up seeing positive results out there on the field.

⭐ South Africa Players to Watch

As one of the best teams in the world, it should not come as much of a surprise to find out that they have a number of quality players in their squad for the 2022 Rugby Autumn Internationals that they will be playing in November. Just like we did with the Ireland squad, we are now going to provide you with a table that has three South African players that you should pay close attention to if you tune in and watch this match against Ireland.

💯Ireland vs South Africa Betting Odds

Us British rugby fans are spoiled by the fact that we have plenty of top sports betting sites that we can open an account with in order to bet on entertaining rugby matches such as Ireland against South Africa. As a matter of fact, due to new UK betting sites popping up frequently, it can be hard for rugby bettors to sit down and find the best bookmaker for them with competitive rugby odds.

However, this is where we come into play since in the next section of our prediction, we are going to give you a table that gives you the names of some of the best bookmakers for UK sports bettors and the odds that they are currently offering their punters for this Ireland vs South Africa game.

⚡ Best Match Winner Odds

As you can see when you check out the following table, not all of these top bookies have their odds available yet for this match. We will keep checking and as soon as they have released their odds, we will come back to update this table. So, make sure that you bookmark this page and come back in a few days to check out the odds.

Ireland to Win	1.55	1.54	TBA	TBA	1.56
South Africa to Win	2.40	2.33	TBA	TBA	2.36
Draw	19.00	N/A	TBA	TBA	20.00

🥇 Who Will Win? Ireland vs South Africa Prediction

This match is going to be one of those that is really hard to call, but we do not like to sit on the fence when it comes to our predictions. Therefore, if you open an account with a sports betting site and you receive a free bet no deposit, then we recommend that you put it on the Irish to win a closely-fought contest. We think that they will still be on a high from their series win against the All-Blacks in the summer, and they will be looking to keep a hold of their number one spot in the rankings for a bit longer.

Our match prediction: Ireland to win.