Wales to play South Africa in June friendly ahead of Australia tour

Wales is scheduled to face South Africa in a single test match at the neutral venue of Twickenham on June 22. This will mark the first game for the Springboks since Rassie Erasmus returned as head coach after their Rugby World Cup victory in France last year.

Warren Gatland's team will also make a trip to Australia for two tests, with the first one taking place in Sydney on July 6, followed by a second match in Melbourne a week later.

The meeting between Wales and South Africa could potentially see both teams missing key players, as the game falls outside of World Rugby's international window and is scheduled on the same day as the United Rugby Championship final.

In 2022, South Africa's Stormers and Bulls, who have a significant number of Springboks in their squads, competed in the URC final, and the Stormers made repeat appearances last year. They are once again in contention.

The Springboks made a significant impact by defeating their long-standing rivals, New Zealand, with a record-breaking score of 35-7 in front of a large expatriate crowd at Twickenham last August. It was during this match that they first experimented with a 7-1 split between forwards and backs on the bench.

Regardless of their depleted squad, the Springboks will utilize this test to fine-tune their performance for two home fixtures against Ireland in July, where the top spot in the world rankings could be at stake.

"We have very fond memories of the World Cup warm-up test we played against the All Blacks at Twickenham last year," stated Erasmus.

"The fact that we're playing Wales, whom we faced in an exhilarating 2015 World Cup quarter-final, will also bring back many memories," he added.

Wales coach Warren Gatland is in the process of rebuilding his team with young players and considers the clash at Twickenham as a crucial stepping-stone.

In a World Cup warm-up game in Cardiff last August, South Africa convincingly defeated Wales with a score of 52-16.

"To have the opportunity for our young squad to test themselves against the world champions at a neutral venue is an incredibly important experience and something that we will eagerly embrace," expressed Gatland.

"We are aware that the Wallabies will be determined to bounce back after the Rugby World Cup, but Australia is a challenging place to play rugby, and we anticipate a motivated side led by new head coach Joe Schmidt," he added.

The match at Twickenham will be part of a double-header in South West London, as a Barbarians side coached by Robbie Deans will also face Fiji later in the day.