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The Springboks outscored Italy six tries to three in an unconvincing but comfortable win in their incoming series opener at Loftus.
Springbok captain Jesse Kriel and coach Rassie Erasmus during the post match press conference after the Boks win over Italy at Loftus on Saturday. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus lamented a frustrating performance from his charges, after they opened their incoming series with an unconvincing 42-24 win over a fired-up Italy at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
It was a comfortable win for the Boks, with them never looking in danger of losing, even when the Italian visitors fought back to 35-24 with 13 minutes remaining, but it was a far cry from the result expected, especially after the hosts took a 28-3 lead into the halftime break.
Italy had also left a number of star and experienced players at home for the tour, and suffered a few injury set backs in the build up to the game, so it was an inexperienced side that took on a very experienced Bok team, and in the end impressed mightily.
Frustrating game
“It was a very frustrating game. When they (Italy) leave a couple of their big names at home you expect a down in the gutters fight, because they didn’t have anything to lose,” said Erasmus after the match.
“But we knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments. Scrums, mauling, defence, attack, so it was a proper Test match.
“When we were 28-3 up and we scored that try that was disallowed for obstruction, I thought we might have them, but then we lost some momentum. So it was a frustrating performance to be honest.”
With the Boks boasting close to 400 more caps in their starting lineup than the Italians, and having a slew of double world cup winning stars on the field, they were expected to walk away with a bigger win.
But having a lacklustre performance earlier in their season is better than against bigger opposition during the Rugby Championship or end of year tour, and Erasmus admits that they will look to fix that going forward.
No excuses
“I don’t think we have too many excuses. We would rather have a performance like this now (than later in the season). 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,” explained Erasmus.
“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. Also that we scored tries even with a maul that didn’t function, even with a breakdown that wasn’t great, even with a counterattack that wasn’t awesome, we still scored six tries.
“I really didn’t pick up in the week that this is how we were going to perform. Maybe that’s a sign that you must never think that you are all set in a game. But luckily it is all fixable.”
One of the standout performances from Italy was their impressive rush defence, that although let in four tries in the first half, limited the Boks to just two in the second when altitude was expected to take its toll on them, and Erasmus praised that effort.
“They were really good. We did score six tries against a rush defence and when you do that you are doing pretty well. But we train every day against (our) rush defence. They are certainly gutsy, I think at half time they had made almost 120 tackles,” said Erasmus.
“We thought that at some stage they (defence) would give in. But then they turned up the heat in the second half. So the rush defence was something that we expected, but I think we could have scored a few more tries.”
