The Azzuri took on the Springboks in Udine, Italy at 16:00 SA time. The Springboks won comfortably 32 / 10. (See the Match summary)
Finally a win for the Springboks on Tour this year.
They scored 4 tries to the solitary Italian try.
The Springboks however are not close to the finished article yet, there were hickups, specially when they allowed the Italians to do too much of the play in te first half. The scrums were a mixed bag as well and only seemed to really get going when John Smit reverted to hooker and BJ Botha came on to anchor the Bokke scrum at tight head. I hope this settles it then, John Smit is a hooker… and a jolly good hooker and BJ Botha is needed at tight head.
South Africa took an early lead with 2 tries whilst Simone Favaro was in the sin bin, then Italy came back at the Bokke, controlling the ball well and putting the Springboks under a good measure of pressure.
In this time Italy manufactured a try by Gonzalo Garcia. In the first half Craig Gower missed three kickable penalties and the half ended 12 / 7 to the Springboks.
Morné Steyn also started out quite wayward with the boot to posts, he missed two penalty attempts and a conversion. Apparently it is a different ball that they use there in Italy to the one that Morné is used to.
The second half was more enterprisng by the Bokke and when BJ Botha eventually took the field, with John Smit moving to hooker… Adriaan Strauss leaving the field, the scrums were much better. Beast also joined the front row at that stage, so the best front row on tour consisted of Beast at loosehead, John Smit at hooker and BJ Botha at tight head.
Matfield came on and Bakkies left the field… with Bekker moving to the No 4 lock position and Matfield resuming his favoured No 5 lock position.
We saw that as soon as the Springboks went wide against Italy, away from their powerful forwards, that Italy was vulnerable.
Heinrich Brüssow was on fire yet again, stealinf vital balls at vital times.
Morné Steyn fially adapted to the strange ball in the second half and made the score 15 / 7 in the 46th minute.
Another very positive substitution happened when Jean Deysel came on to replace Ryan Kankowski, he slotted in at blindside flank, with Danie Rossouw moving to the No 8 berth… this clearly worked better, Deysel slotted in perfectly and Danie Rossouw suddenly revived his tour fitting in properly at No 8.
The Springbok’s 3rd try was skillful and the handling was sublime. After Morné Steyn started the move in his own 22m area, the ball went to Danie Rossouw who ran well and passed a marvelous little back-hander to Jaque Fourie as hewent down in a tackle. Jaque Fourie raced on, passing to Bryan Habana on his inside right hand side, Habana made a break then passed to Fourie du Preez who maestro’ed (if there is such a word) over the try line.
Gower then converted a penalty, making the score 22 / 10.
Morné Steyn made it 25 / 10 soon thereafter.. and was then promptly replaced by Ruan Pienaar at fly half. At the same time Wynand Olivier came on to replace Adi Jacobs.
The deserving Wynand Olivier finally scored his first Test try when he crashed over after an inside pass from Fourie du Preez. Ruan Pienaar converted the easy conversion. The score was now 32 / 10, which also turned out to be the final score.
Finally, Francois Hougaard got his firs Test Cap, coming on as a late replacement in the last 4 minutes of the match.
All in all a good day for the Springboks with a lot of questions answered.
Congratulations are in order for the 3 new caps in Bokke Tests, Wian du Preez, Jean Deysel and Francois Hougaard… may you continue to wear the jersey with pride and distinction.
Which questions were answered, might you ask? Well, I would sa y the following:
- Our Front row should be Beast Mtawarira (1), John Smit (2), BJ Botha (3)
- Our loosies should be Brüssow (6), Jean Deysel (7), Danie Rossouw (8 ) – whilst Pierre Spies is injured… with Kankowski moving out the match dat 22 all together. Dewalt Potgieter should be on the bench.
- At inside centre, Wynand Olivier should be the starting centre in the absense of Jean de Villiers, not Adi Jacobs.. he should be relegated to the bench or out of the match day 22 with Juan de Jongh possibly claiming a bench spot in his place.
- For now, Ruan Pienaar seems to be adequate on the bench as utility player, so too Francois Hougaard.
No more experiments Mr Peter de Villiers & Co…. this is what is needed, this is what should happen… please listen to us… some of us know what we’re talking about!
Points:
Italy: 1 Conversion & 1 Penalty Craig Gower, 1 Try Gonzalo Garcia
Bokke: 2 Conversions & 2 Penalties Morné Steyn, 1 Conversion Ruan Pienaar, 1 Try Bryan Habana, 1 Try Jaque Fourie, 1 Try Fourie du Preez, 1 Try Wynand Olivier
Teams:
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Simon Piccone, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Gonzalo Canale
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (captain), 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Tendai Mtawarira, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Victor Matfield, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.
Date: Saturday, November 21
Venue: Stadio Friuli, Udine
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT; 16.00 SA time)
Expected weather conditions: Clear with a high of 14°C, dropping to 4°C and a light wind
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: James Jones (Wales), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
time for boks to stop the rot and show their metal again
boks by 15
Hello all friends, muppits, moepels and round-headed house animals!
Take note, I have scheduled GAME THREADS for all important matches today… they will appear as if by magic closer to the respective Kick-off times.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and good day all you land lubbers
hey boetmaan gbs , watching big screen here at work lol
Boks will take this for sure.
Hey GBS, that’s Azzuri, I believe?
… oh and don’t underestimate the Azzuri scrum.
This will be a training run for the boks – forget the earlier matches, look out Italy. A cricket score to follow . . .
7@ Old Griquas crocked wing – Thanks… have changed it accordingly.
Kiwis by 11
Oz by 19
Boks by 9
GBS @ 10 – Mate, you’re quick off the mark! A minor technicality.
they wont irish
i think however our scrum will be stronger when beast comes on later with smit moving to hooker and bj taking over TH
also depends on the reserve lock thaat comes on , bekker is not a strong scrummager , and i have a feeling bakkies will be subbed with the 2 locks then being bakker and matfield
again that might cause problems
Think I should return later then.
Irish Devil @ 12 – I don’t think you’re far off the mark, but you just don’t know with these sub-standard Wallas!
14@ Old Griquas – I never used to be quick when I played rugby… just never had the ability to be super speedy.. was an opensider flank in my days… but here on the blog I have WINGSSSSSSSSS !!
#15 Looking forward to seeing this new front row though. Jones has really had a go at the Boks front row here. Want him to eat humble pie! A prick of note
Wales to just put it past the Argies mate… Wales by 2
GBS @18 – good onya mate – take a look outside of you, that’s me with fingers to the ready, while the legs are knackered!!!
Speedy or seedy GBS! lol
19@ Oirish – A front row is not about individual power of the players in it (That plays a minor role), it’s about the collective, the collective technique and timing, the instinctive feel for the whole tight five to do it together and simultaneously and correctly.
The Bokke have simply not had enough time to make this a world-beating front row or scrum.
#23 GBS – to be sure mate
22@ Oirish – Oi, ya little Leprecorn!
#25 – GBS – It slipped out mate…the fingers just moved…sorry
gbs although for the most i agree with you , the bok scrum was good before , but i think with tiredness and bad coaching of the forwards by gary gold has come the problems
the sharjs forward pack you know was good , then they went on bok duty and poof , suddenly not good
wp had a shit psck under gary gold , he left and new coach comes and that same pack is nw effective
that and the scrumming as one that you speak of is whats lacking now
one can see the lack of scrumming as a pack in every game
Folks, I have to go quickly fit a new TV arial for Father-in-Law accross the road… a tree fell on the old one, I mean it fell on the the arial, not the Father-in-Law… well the bloody neighbour was cutting down a tree and was not careful enough…. eishhhhhhh.
See you all in a while.
#27 – SF – tell me if I’m wrong and I’m not a scrum guru – but the Boks loosies tend to be head up at scrum time and it comes across as if they are not helping with go forward ball. Watch the heads up at scrum time…maybe I’m wrong.
#29 you are right irish
all 8 should be keeping their heads down and scrumming as one but this does not happen
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