Following the Springboks’ 45-0 victory over Italy at Nelson Mandela Stadium, here are our five takeaways.
Top Line
A smart, accurate, and aggressive Springboks outfit put their Loftus low behind them to notch up a comprehensive seven-try victory inspired by innovation and sheer brutality.
The inexperienced Azzurri outscored the world champions in the second half in Pretoria last week, but today, they were completely shut out by a driven Bok outfit despite a mindless act that resulted in a full red card.
That came from powerhouse number eight Jasper Wiese, who headbutted prop Danilo Fischetti in the 21st minute of the match with his team up 10-0 at the time.
Grant Williams, who had a blinder, got the scoreboard ticking over in the eighth minute of the game as Man of the Match Edwill van der Merwe sprinted through a gap before linking up with his fellow backs, leading to the scrum-half’s opener.
That was followed by an inch-perfect finish by Van der Merwe in the 15th minute as the winger flirted with the touchline after a superb skip pass by Manie Libbok. In his second cap for the Boks, the winger doubled his tally as Willie Le Roux, celebrating his 100th cap, put in a deft kick for Van der Merwe to chase and duly replied to cross the whitewash.
Canan Moodie added his name to the scoresheet after a shock midfield lineout with South Africa heading into the break with a 24-0 lead.
Malcom Marx, Makazole Mapimpi and Jan-Hendrik Wessells all crossed in the second half as the Boks thundered to an impressive victory in which they nilled the Azzurri.
Jaw-dropping tactics help seven-try Springboks demolish Italy despite Jasper Wiese red card
Innovation, innovation, innovation
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”
Those words were reportedly uttered by Albert Einstein, but certainly fit the Rassie Erasmus, his coaching staff and his players who executed the absurd from the very first action of the match.
The Springboks back their scrum and love to flex their strength at the set-piece, and they wasted no time in getting to the first set of the match as Manie Libbok chipped the ball into the arms of Andre Esterhuizen with the first kick of the game.
It’s a brave, brave tactic that can epically blow up in your face, but this team is not afraid to take those risks, as we saw during the Rugby World Cup. Then it was the likes of Damian Willemse and Handre Pollard calling for scrums inside their own 22 after claiming marks. Now, this is just a fresh take to force the opposition to front up against a fresh Bok pack.
Unlike opting for the scrum inside your 22, the opposition gets the feed to the set-piece with this ploy and can backfire with the attack having both sides of the pitch to attack from. Also, Esterhuizen was quite lucky not to be penalised for being in front of the kicker.
Unfortunately for the men in Green and Gold, the ploy did not produce much success as they conceded a free-kick and allowed the Italians to tap and go quickly.
However, there was much more success with the other bit of innovation from Erasmus and his coaching team, with the Springboks deploying a viral schoolboy tactic of forming a lineout in the midfield. The move was perfectly executed on both occasions, with lock Ruan Nortje leaping into the air a phase after a restart.
On both occasions, the Italians conceded a penalty, but with referee Andrew Brace playing advantage, the Springboks capitalised with Williams threading a wonderful pass out to Moodie, who carved through the defence to score. On the second occasion, a maul was formed, and Marx extended his record as the highest-scoring Springboks forward.
Additionally, Esterhuizen deserve massive credit for his performance today as he chopped and changed between loose forward and inside centre, fulfilling both roles to an incredibly high standard. That is just another bit of innovation from the Boks getting the back to moonlight as a forward, which still plays to his strengths with massive abrasiveness and physicality.
Springboks’ manufacture a scrum from the kick-off in the latest bizzare Rassie Erasmus ploy
Rassie and Wiese cannot claim
While the camera panned over to the Springboks coaching box to see Erasmus fist pumping in celebration of Marx’s try off the bit of innovation, he cut a far contrasting figure when Wiese was shown his marching orders.
The Springboks boss looked perplexed that his loose forward was shown a straight, full, red card for his headbutt on Italian prop Danilo Fischetti.
It was quite clear that there was little argument to be made over Brace’s decision but one has to think that Erasmus felt that the contact did not warrant a sanction.
Still, it was a brain fade from Wiese as these kinds of incidents simply don’t escape punishment nowadays, especially if the victim of the act plays up to the referee in a football-esque manner. While Fischetti didn’t Neymar-dive to the floor and clutch at his face, he did make sure that the officials were aware of the act and milked it somewhat.
It was hardly an act of real thuggery, just plain stupidity, and was duly punished as such. Wiese will now miss the final July international against Georgia and probably the start of the Rugby Championship too.
Springboks: Rassie Erasmus left dumbfounded as Jasper Wiese sees red after mindless act
Frustrations remain, but no Loftus repeat as gulf in class evident
Being without the services of the powerhouse number eight will not be the only thing that will leave the Bok head coach frustrated today, as the ghosts of Loftus were evident today.
The Azzurri managed to pester their breakdown again, winning 13 turnovers, while the replacements didn’t quite get firing as quickly as he would have wanted.
South Africa managed to score three tries in the second half and conceded none, which will please the boss and his staff, but he bemoaned his side’s inability to get going quickly after stoppages in the match.
The Italians deserve a hat-tip for that, as again, they battled right through to the final minute of the game, but the gulf in class was just too great to overcome this time around.
The world champions were clearly fired up after seemingly being read the Riot Act during the week, but were also armed with the learnings of Loftus, particularly the second half in the capital.
Discipline will also be the order of the day ahead of the clash against Georgia as Wilco Louw was also carded for his high tackle, which saw the Springboks reduced to 13 men for 10 minutes. He was fortunate that his sanction was not upgraded but returned to continue his scrummaging dominance. Thomas du Toit seemingly paid the price for his ill-discipline at scrum time, conceding free kicks that simply let the Italians off. 11 penalties conceded isn’t overly poor, particularly when compared to the Italians’ 1,9 but Erasmus will demand better and rightly so.
Willie Le Roux’s day
It would be remiss not to mention the man of the moment, just the eighth player to hit 100 Test caps for the Springboks, Willie Le Roux, who was up to his usual tricks.
An unselfish player, Le Roux had his moment in the spotlight as his teammates and all in attendance applauded him onto the park.
Like his previous 99 appearances for his country, it was far from a perfect outing from the veteran full-back, but he did produce a moment or two of magic. His kick in behind for Van der Merwe’s try meant he added yet another assist while he played a supporting role in some of the best attacks on the night.
When his number was called in the 56th minute, the stadium again arose to celebrate one of the true greats of the Springboks jersey.
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