Springboks to end 2022 with 4 Tests, midweek game against Bristol Bears confirmed

The Springboks' on Tuesday confirmed fixtures for their year-end European tour.

The world champions will play four Tests - against Ireland, France, Italy, and England - while there will also be a midweek game where an SA Select XV will tackle English club Bristol Bears.

SA Rugby said in a statement that negotiations were also underway to arrange two more midweek games for the SA Select XV team.

The Ireland Test is scheduled for Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 5 November. The Boks will tackle France at Marseille's Stade Velodrome (Saturday, 12 November), Italy at a yet to be determined venue (Saturday, 19 November), and England at Twickenham (Saturday 26 November).

The Bristol Bears game will be played at the 27 000-seater Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol - two days before the England Test (Thursday, 17 November).

"Our traditional year-end tour is taking shape, and the fact that we have confirmed one of the SA Select XV games already is great news," said Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber.

"The SA Select XV games will provide us with a chance to cast our net wider [as we look] to build squad depth and give players as much game time as possible as the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France draws nearer.

"We only have a limited number of matches left before we kick off our Rugby World Cup campaign in September next year, and we need to use every opportunity we can to give the players game time to develop our player combinations and build squad depth.

"We have an enlarged squad of 42 players with us at the moment for the Incoming Series (against Wales) and hopefully we will have an opportunity to see what most of these players can do at international level as they look to throw their names in the hat for next year’s international