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)