Damian Willemse led an inspired Springbok performance as they survived an early red card to beat Italy 32-14.
Springbok fullback Damian Willemse put in a brilliant display under immense pressure and was deservedly named man-of-the-match in the world champions’ gritty 32-14 win over Italy in Turin on Saturday, but heaped praise on his teammates, hailing a team performance.
A relatively young and inexperienced Bok team was named for the clash, and were rocked early on with an extremely questionable permanent red card to lock Franco Mostert, for supposed head contact in a tackle, which immediately put them under the pump.
The Bok management, perhaps panicking a little due to the inexperience on the pitch, made a slew of early changes, which seemed to lead to a disjointed performance.
Calm Willemse
But among all that Willemse remained incredibly calm under pressure, putting in an amazing defensive performance as the last line of defence, while he also found a few moments during the match to show a bit of flair as well.
Speaking after the game, Willemse claimed it took a full team effort to repel waves of Italian attacks over the match, which slowly ground them down, allowing the Boks to unleash in the final quarter as they seem to always do nowadays.
“It was amazing, what a great performance. You’ve got to give it to the team, that was a full team effort. Italy put us under pressure, but we came up with good solutions and plans, so you got to take your hat off. It was a team effort,” said Willemse in television interview.
“Obviously I am taking credit as the man-of-the-match, but that was a full team effort. Italy has an exciting backline and a good kicking game.
“As I said earlier in the week, they are an all-court team and they showed that tonight. They put us under a lot of pressure, at the mauls, set piece, on defence, they have a good attack and obviously the kicking game. But I tried my best and obviously the rest of the boys helped me.”
14-man Boks
Being down to 14-men for the second week in a row, this time early after another controversial reffing decision, the Boks had to dig deep, but this performance was made all the more impressive by the fact they had to do it with a lot less experience than against France.
The starting front row only had 12 caps between them before the match, and they were the unlucky sacrifices, as going down to a seven man scrum, while struggling against the Italian pack, saw 21-year-old Zachary Porthen, making just his second appearance, and Boan Venter, sacrificed early to get Wilco Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp on.
The first change, however, was Ruan Nortje straight on for Ben-Jason Dixon, to shore up the second row, and a slew of other changes followed, including hybrid Andre Esterhuizen arriving on the scene in the first half.
In the second half, the inexperience was shown with loose forward replacement Kwagga Smith seemingly on captaincy duty during the final quarter, but the Boks still managed to turn on the style and clinch an impressive win with three late tries.
“We knew we had to show character and the boys did that. I am just so proud of the team, to come up with solutions (in difficult situations), and we are going to remember this one for a long time. So I am very happy,” concluded Willemse.
