
Boks face hard truths in review of first Test against Italy after misfiring second-half display
It's a measure of the standards which the Springboks have set in the past seven years that an 18-point winning margin, while scoring six tries, is considered below par.
But that's exactly the case after the Springboks beat Italy 42-24 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. It's the price of being world champions and the unofficial standard-bearers of the sport.
It's a burden the Boks must carry because they are held to a higher standard after consecutive Rugby World Cup successes as well as many other achievements along the way.
Coach Rassie Erasmus, in the immediate aftermath of the match in Pretoria, struck a measured tone, although he let slip that the display simply wasn't good enough.
The overall performance was probably a little better than average, but a woeful second half took the gloss off what was a strong first half.
The Boks scored four tries and led by 28-3 at the break after they forced Italy to make 120 tackles and dominated territory and tempo.
Given how much defending Italy were forced to do in the opening stanza, the Boks would normally have landed several more hammer blows in the final quarter and won by a massive margin.
That wasn't the case thanks to Italy's magnificent resilience and the Springboks' tepid performance for most of the second half. The much-feted Bomb Squad failed to fire as individual and collective errors mounted in an atypically sloppy display.
Erasmus alluded to the stop-start nature of the game, especially in the second half, with several Azzurri players going down injured, which prevented the Boks from gaining momentum.
That might have been a mitigating factor, but quite frankly, the Springboks should be better than that. They went into the game with a collective 1,204 Test caps compared to Italy's 388. The South African side had more than enough experience to cope with whatever 'tricks' Italy might have employed.
When the Boks review the match they will have much to pick over because many seasoned players were below par.
Locks RG Snyman and Franco Mostert didn't meet their usual high standards when they were deployed. Ditto hooker Bongi Mbonambi. Singling out individuals is probably futile because there appeared to be collective apathy for much of the second half.
Italy defended well, made the breakdown messy and showed surprising energy and stamina after being pounded for 40 minutes, which is to their credit.
But the world champions let them build that head of steam, losing the physical battle. When last could you say that the Boks were outmuscled?
The sight of an Italian rolling maul rumbling 20m, leading to a try for replacement hooker Pablo Dimcheff will feature on Azzurri highlight reels for years to come.
Complacency?
It was a blow to South African egos, possibly exposing something frightening brewing in the Bok camp — complacency.
There is no other logical explanation for the display after the break. It looked and felt like this team assumed they only needed to go through the motions to keep the scoreboard rolling.
'I don't think our physicality and intensity was what it should be,' Erasmus acknowledged after the match.
'It was frustrating because we had a lekker week in the build-up to the match; we were into it, things went well, and it was nice and physical.
'Maybe we as coaches made some mistakes by thinking we were ready for the game. Maybe you need to drive the players even more when you start thinking everything is going well.
'It's not the players who are at fault. Maybe we as coaches didn't press the right buttons.'
That was as close as the great coach came to admitting complacency might be an issue.
Erasmus rightly also praised Italy. It mustn't be forgotten that they went into the match without a swathe of their Six Nations regulars, were rocked back in the first 40 minutes and yet never gave in.
'We must acknowledge Italy's performance too. They were gutsy, and after making 120 first-half tackles you'd think they'd give in [in the second half], but instead they turned up the heat,' said Erasmus.
'In the first 10 minutes of the second half it was stop/start, and we couldn't get intensity into the game, so with the Bomb Squad we wanted to get intensity and speed play up.
'Even with the bench, we couldn't do that, which was frustrating.'
The Boks conceded three second-half tries, something that has seldom happened since 2018. It's another indication that something was lacking.
'Italy were excellent at legally slowing our ruck ball down and holding us up in the tackle,' said Erasmus. 'I thought we attacked from slow ruck ball, and the tries they scored were from quick ruck ball.
'That's what was frustrating. They seemed to be able to switch on and off after a three-minute injury break better than we were, and conceding four tries was worrying.'
Honesty
The internal debrief is sure to be uncomfortable because, despite making all the right noises after the game, it's clear something was amiss with the Boks' mentality.
Rugby at the highest level is often decided by mentality and intensity over tactical nous. Italy had a better attitude in the second half.
It was obvious in the post-match musings that the Boks were critical of referee Hollie Davidson's handling of the breakdown and the staccato nature of the contest without saying as much.
Replacement flank Kwagga Smith echoed Erasmus' musings about stoppages and breakdown issues.
'They came hard at the breakdown, threw lots of bodies into rucks and disrupted us. We couldn't get momentum,' said Smith.
'Getting momentum back in a Test is difficult, especially when you can't get continuity, the breakdown is a mess and the ball spits out. It becomes difficult as you're playing scrappy rugby and literally just fixing mistakes all the time.
Erasmus reminded the media in the build-up to the clash at Loftus that when the Boks assess their performances in the post-match debrief, the final score is not the most important factor.
They look at much more detail, individually and collectively when picking over the bones of the match.
'We want to be the best team in the world, and to continue to do that we have to be honest,' said Smith.
'You know that when you don't play well or to the best of your ability, and win by 18 points, you still have to be honest with yourself because the final score is not the only measure.
'Honesty is one of the best things we have in our environment. We will be honest in the review.' DM

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
South Africa's Jordan Pepper claims 1st Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters win
The son of former South African Touring Car driver Iain, Edenvale-born Jordan Pepper, is enjoying a purple patch in his racing career. A former winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour with Bentley and the GTWC America Championship, Pepper's current contract with TGI Lamborghini Team by GRT sees him competing in both the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) and selected endurance-racing events, in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Sharing a car with Luca Engstler and Mirko Bortolotti, Pepper's impressive current form saw him claim victory at the 2025 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on June 29. Buoyed by this success, the former VW Polo Cup and 2014 VW Scirocco Cup champion arrived at the fourth round of this year's DTM Championship, held at the Norisring street circuit in Nuremberg, Germany, filled with confidence. Starting Race 1 from pole position, Pepper's impressive early-race pace came in handy after a slow mandatory pit stop threatened to scupper the team's efforts. With his proud father in attendance and family, including his sister, Tasmin, herself an accomplished racing driver, watching from home, Jordan held off Thomas Preining and Maro Engel to claim his maiden DTM victory. 'What an unbelievably emotional moment for me,' Pepper said. 'I am incredibly proud and still cannot really believe it. The final laps seemed to last forever. However, I gave it my all and remained focused right through to the finish.' Significantly, the win vaulted Pepper into second place in the 2025 DTM Driver's Championship, behind Lucas Auer, who drives for Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf. As a reminder, Pepper's compatriot and fellow former VW Polo Cup driver, Sheldon van der Merwe, became the first South African to win the DTM Driver's title, claiming the 2012 title with BMW. Click here to browse thousands of new and used vehicles here with CARmag! The post South Africa's Jordan Pepper Claims His First DTM Win appeared first on CAR Magazine. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal.


The Citizen
2 hours ago
- The Citizen
Kwagga says Boks did not meet their standards against Italy
The Springbok loose forward also bemoaned their loss of momentum after Tshituka's disallowed try, and the loss of the breakdown battle. Kwagga Smith says the Springboks even though they analysed Italy well during the week, they were still not up to scratch. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images Springbok loose forward Kwagga Smith said there were several areas they needed to improve after their frustrating 42–24 victory against Italy on Saturday. The world champions hosted the 10th-ranked side (which was also understrength) at Loftus, with the rugby world expecting a big win, even though Italy had been playing well. They beat Namibia 73–6 a week ago. Additionally, since the start of last year, they have beaten Wales (twice), Georgia, Japan, Tonga, and Scotland, while drawing against France and losing to Ireland by five points and England by three. The 18-point victory almost felt like a loss, however. While Springbok players and coach Rassie Erasmus were dejected after the game, the Italy squad were all smiles. Boks did not meet their standards 'We want to be the best team in the world,' Smith said. 'You've got to be honest with yourself. If you know you didn't play to your ability and you didn't play well, although you win by 18 points, it doesn't matter. It's all about your standards and living up to those standards.' He said the Springboks knew Italy would be physical after analysing them this week. 'They really did well, even though we knew it was coming. All credit to them.' The scoreline would have looked different if not for Italy's disallowed try and another that was held up, while the Springboks had one try disallowed. But it was Italy's try from a driving maul starting around the South Africans' 22, that silenced the crowd and appeared to emotionally hurt the Springboks, who are traditionally dominant in pack battles. 'We are disappointed in that. We never want to give away a maul try,' Smith added. 'I think in the last three years we didn't give away a lot of maul tries. So that obviously hurts. We will definitely look at that and see where we can rectify to be better next week.' Springboks fail to maintain momentum against Italy After leading 28–3 at the break, the Springboks lost all their momentum in the second half, scoring 14 points against Italy's 21 in that period. It all seemed to change after Vincent Tshituka's try was disallowed for an earlier obstruction. Smith said the Springboks should have 'kept punching' after that. 'We allowed them in, and that obviously gave them a lot of confidence and momentum.' He said momentum is hard to stop when you cannot get continuity, 'and the breakdown is a mess every time, and the ball spits out. It is difficult because you are just playing scrappy rugby, literally just fixing mistakes the whole time.' He said the South Africans would have to analyse how they lost the breakdown battle.


The South African
2 hours ago
- The South African
What time is kick off for Springboks' second Test?
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.' 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.' WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FIRST TEST PERFORMANCE FOR 2025? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.