The Springboks will be looking for a vastly improved performance against Italy after producing a rather indifferent display to kick off their Test season with a hard-fought victory at Loftus this past weekend.
It will be hoped that some of the ‘rust’ has now been shaken off, and that the Springboks will be back to their best for the second Test against the Azzurri in Gqeberha.
Kick off is once again at 17:10, and it should be remembered that this Test will be shown ‘live’ on both SuperSport and SABC.
Rassie Erasmus said the selectors would have to do some hard thinking before naming the second Test team: “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 (strain) but luckily, we don’t have any (serious) injuries, just a few bruised egos.”
Springboks were not satisfied with the kick off to their Test season
The Springboks looked like they might have broken Italy’s resistance with their fifth try at the start of the second half, but the visitors finished the game in fine fashion.
“It was a very frustrating game,” said Erasmus. “We knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments; scrums, mauling, defence, attack – it was a proper Test match.
“When we were 28-3 up and we scored that try 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.
“The positives are that we won; that we scored tricks 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.”
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