South Africa beat spirited Italy side 32-14 on Saturday, coming out on top despite having to play a large chunk of the match a man down just as they did in last weekend’s win over France.
Marco van Staden, Morne van den Berg, Grant Williams and Ethan Hooker scored the tries with Handre Pollard kicking the rest of South Africa’s points at the Allianz Stadium on a wet, grey day in northern Italy.
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There were swathes of empty seats in the stands, with the big ticket in town being tennis stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz trying to set up a blockbuster final at rhe ATP Finals.
Nonetheless those present got fully involved in a surprisingly tight match in which South Africa were a man down for nearly 70 minutes due to Franco Mostert being sent off for a dangerous tackle on Paolo Garbisi.
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It was the second time in as many matches that Rassie Erasmus’s team made their lives harder with poor discipline but in the end it didn’t cost a team which started with 11 changes to the XV which beat France in Paris last week.
The Springboks next take on Ireland in Dublin, another mouth-watering clash in their tour of the northern hemisphere.
Italy, who made things interesting thanks to Paolo Garbisi’s boot and an Ange Capuozzo try, finish their run of Autumn internationals against Chile in Genoa next weekend.
A win over Australia and Saturday’s dogged, if clumsy display offer more encouraging signs for Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada ahead the next Six Nations.
AS IT HAPPENED: Springboks vs Italy
TEAMS
South Africa
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Boan Venter
Replacements: 16 Gerhard Steenekamp, 17 Wilco Louw, 18 RG Snyman, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok
Italy
15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (captain), 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Ross Vintcent, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 David Odiase, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Tommaso Allan
Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Jérémy Rozier (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)
