Rugby
OPINION: Despite the Win, Boks Beaten at Their Own Game
Even though the Springboks were victorious, Italy managed to expose some shortcomings in Pretoria.
It’s somewhat hilarious to assess how high the standards are for the Springboks currently, both from the public and their own internal team. Despite putting 42 points on Italy at Loftus, the concession of points is often a reflection of the Springboks’ much-prized defence, and unfortunately, there were 24 of those. Italy has a knack for making their opposition play to their level, and they did that excellently.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus even highlighted how the team wasn’t happy with the game, only emphasising the expectation of those dominant performances, and by the look on the players’ faces, they’d agree.
It’s a fair critique to say that the Boks were surprised by the physicality and intensity that the Italians brought. Whereas in the past, the Italians struggled to front-up in the collision areas and relied on their nippy backs out wide. This time, however, they were taking the Boks on in close quarters and often even beating them with some massive tackles. The likes of Eben Etzebeth, Jasper Wiese, and other big ball carriers were being knocked back in a number of instances.
The Italians were clearly up for the challenge, and it may have caught the Springboks off-guard during portions of the game. With all due respect to the Italian side, it may have been a bit of an ask for an in-form Bok team to be mentally up for the game, and it ended up causing some problems for the Springboks on the scoreboard. A notable shoutout to the Italy loose-trio of Lorenzo Cannone, Manuel Zuliani, and Alessandro Izekor, who were giving the Springboks a lot of headaches.
If it wasn’t for a try-saving Kurt-Lee Arendse tackle on Simone Gesi (who literally should’ve just put the ball down — a good lesson there for wingers), the Boks would’ve ended with an 11-point difference (giving Italy the benefit of the doubt that they would’ve slotted the conversion). While ‘a win is a win’, it’s not exactly inspiring for the world number 1 to only beat the world number 10 by 11 points, and Erasmus knows this.
On the plus side, the Boks did continue their exciting counter-attacking style, with Damian Willemse making his return at fullback and showing that he was eager to run, beat players, and make something out of nothing. The attacking kick that I’ve highlighted in previous articles also made its return, with De Allende putting through another pearler for Jesse Kriel to score. And Arendse scored off a simple yet effective set-piece move from a lineout, which showcases how the Boks can use the smaller, more elusive players from first-phase.
On top of that, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg had a great game, scored two tries, picked up a man of the match award, and has made the fight for the No. 9 jersey a lot more interesting.
Look, the Springboks were good, they just weren’t up to their usual standard, and I think anyone who knows a thing or two about rugby can see that. It’s unlikely you’ll see such a reserved effort at Nelson Mandela Bay, and a much more brutal, unforgiving, and clinical Bok performance will be on show.
