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Williams (8'), Merwe (15', 30'), Moodie (37'), Marx (50'), Mapimpi (72'), Wessels (80')
Tries
Libbok (31', 37', 51', 73', 84')
Conversions
The Springboks not only made it back-to-back wins over Italy in the Castle Lager Incoming Series at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha to make it seven straight Test wins, but they also kept Italy scoreless in the 45-0 win in what was their second-biggest win over them since 2001.
Personal accolades were earned as Willie Le Roux earned his 100th Springbok cap, and several players earned their first caps - Springboks Ethan Hooker, Cobus Wiese and Asenathi Ntlabakanye.But the main talking points were the red card to Springbok Jasper Wiese, and the innovative plays the world champions tested out in the match.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus was “fairly happy” with the win, and his side ran in seven tries in the dominant performance. It was the first time they kept a Tier One nation scoreless since a 28-0 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh in 2013 and they did with a player less on the field for most of the match. It was the first time Italy failed to score in a Test in 26 years.
Erasmus said, “Last week we didn’t know a lot of the Italian players because we hadn’t played against a lot of them, so they were tough to analyse. After one game, the older guys could transfer a lot of knowledge to the younger guys who played this week, and they could also point out where they thought their weaknesses were.
There was a Man of the Match performance from Edwill van der Merwe as he returned to the Bok setup for the first time in a year and scored a brace of tries. The Boks were 24-0 up at halftime thanks to tries from Grant Williams, Edwill van der Merwe (2), and Canan Moodie.
The second half saw tries from Malcolm Marx, Makazole Mapimpi and Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Try scoring scrum half Williams said, “I wish I could have played for the Sharks first. There was a bit of nerves this week after a frustrating three months, but I’m happy we got the win, and personally, to be able to play again. There was obviously a little rust, but I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks.”
Number 8 Jasper Wiese saw red for his headbutt on Italy loosehead Danilo Fischetti, while prop Wilco Louw was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle in the second half - issues which will be of concern. The red was also unfortunate as it denied the pair of brothers from playing at the same time, as the younger Wiese came on in the second half.
The Springbok coach added, “To keep them to nil with 13 players on the field was pretty cool. In two games, it’s 87-24 for us in this series, and 13 tries to three and they were a team that pushed Ireland very close. So, we’re very happy.”
The Italians also saw two players sent to the sin bin - Danilo Fischetti and David Odiase, as they had their own ill-discipline and lacked attacking teeth to trouble the scoreline.
As for the innovations, they were on display from the get-go. The kickoff was deliberately kicked short to lead to a scrum. That caused a social media frenzy as those for and against the tactics made their feelings known. The move was probably illegal anyway, as the player looked to be in front of the kicker.
The Boks also twice deployed a move they had seen in schoolboy rugby, in which they tried to manufacture a maul in open play by lifting a player, lineout style.
The South African coach said it had been copied from a Paul Roos school “B” team. “We tried a few things, and sometimes those things work and sometimes they don’t, and you have to take it on the chin if they don’t work. We won’t be able to do them again for a few games, as people have seen them now.”
For anyone not a fan of Erasmus’s tinkering, there have been reports this week that the coach is looking to stay on until RWC 2031 in the USA.
The Springboks next face Georgia (who lost to the Cheetahs on the weekend) to complete the Castle Lager Incoming Series at Mbombela on Saturday, 19th July.
The Bok coach said, “Hopefully after the Georgia game, a lot of the guys will have had two caps, and we will have won all four matches, and we can pick a nice settled, balanced team for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.”
