Rugby union news: South Africa vs Italy — Springboks triumph over gutsy Azzurri
The Springboks triumphed over Italy 42-24 in the first of two Test matches on Saturday, July 5, at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
The Azzurri’s grit gave Rassie Erasmus’ men problems at different points in the encounter, with the Boks showing moments of magic, but also signs of frailty that left them with plenty to work on ahead of the second Test.
Sports News Blitz’s Aidan Leo looks back on the events of the first Test in Pretoria.
Main talking points
Erasmus would have been relatively pleased going into the sheds 28-3 up at the half.
However, the Boks struggled to add to or even replicate their first-half dominance.
The cohesion and continuity in the first half was notable — the struggle was getting the ball to the edges with good effect, for the game-breaking back three to do their usual damage.
However, the lineouts, scrums and the Boks’ power game and collision work was elite in the first half.
The only caveat was the slow, lack of efficiency at the breakdown, which would have left Erasmus and his coaching staff with plenty to ponder at the final whistle.
Erasmus frustrated
The Springboks head coach cut a frustrated figure in the aftermath of the match.
“I guess it’s a positive that we scored six tries but we’re frustrated.
“I didn’t pick up in the week that this was the way we were going to perform but it’s all fixable – but it’s definitely frustrating,” Erasmus told SA Rugby.
Erasmus spoke on reevaluating his approach for the Test in Gqeberha, as well as alluding to his team having somewhat underestimated the resilience of the staunch Italy side.
“Internally we’ve announced that 13, 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,” he said.
“We won’t discard those guys but some of them might move to the bench, some of the real standout players who played today might start again.
“The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us. You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half.
“But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate and we have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes, it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.”
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Set-piece dominance to set-piece frailties
The tight-five was formidable in the first half.
The front row comprising Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx, and Wilco Louw obliterated the Italian scrum consistently.
The trio are shoe-ins for the front row going forward, with only Thomas du Toit challenging Louw for a starting spot.
Additionally, the lineout was equally as dominant.
The duo of Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager shone yet again, cementing their status in the engine room this season as undeniable.
Both veterans dictated the aerial battle in the lineouts, an area of particular strength when the two featured in the Bok forward pack together.
Conversely, both of these factors tailed off dramatically in the second half when Erasmus rang the changes early on.
“We knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments; scrums, mauling, defence, attack – it was a proper Test match,” Erasmus said.
“When we were 28-3 up and we scored the try that was disallowed for obstruction, I thought we might have them, but then we lost some momentum.
“I don’t think we have too many excuses and it certainly makes the selection for next week interesting – they could easily have come back into it at the end.
“They performed really well – we definitely tried to impose our game on them, and they didn’t allow it.
“The frustration was not only about not dominating, but also that the game was stop-start, stop-start. It felt like we didn’t get any intensity in the second half.”
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‘Bomb Squad’ defused
The famed ‘Bomb Squad’ were nullified by the Azzurri’s resurgence in the second half.
The Boks’ bench struggled to make any real impact, nor did they establish a foothold in the game.
What brought Erasmus’ charges success in the first half — the lineout and scrum, the collisions, and the tackle efficiency — all fell off significantly in the second.
The amount of work the backline needed to get through to cover the lack of industry and mobility the bench showed was evident.
The Italians began to pick up some line-breaks and territorial gain, which put the Boks under tremendous pressure — requiring otherworldly defensive interjections to keep the Azzurri at bay.
Franco Mostert was the only standout from the forwards off the bench.
The rest left a lot to be desired, and were potentially the root of the frustration Erasmus exhibited in the post-match presser.
Replacement tighthead Vincent Koch did pick up a solid try though, after a mammoth clash in the collision for his score off the base, near the try-line.
The lack of tempo and intent off the bench would have rung worrying alarm bells for Erasmus.
Looking ahead to the second Test
Concluding his overall view of the game, and the state of his side going into the second Test, Erasmus said: “The positives are that we won; that we scored tries even with a maul that didn’t function, even with a breakdown that wasn’t great on attack, even with a counterattack that wasn’t awesome, we still scored six tries.”
“We have to pick nine guys to go with the others and we have to decide whether they start or come off the bench.
“Damian De Allende has a bit of a hamstring but luckily, we don’t have any injuries, just a few bruised egos.”
The Springboks meet Italy in Gqeberha for the second Test at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday, July 12.
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