Boks win Newlands borefest

South Africa struggled to a 26-0 win over an under-strength Italy side at a soaking Newlands Stadium on Saturday.

Only in their first outing in 1995 did the Boks have a smaller winning margin (19) against Italy than in this Test.

The wet weather always threatened to starve the match of tries, but as an entertainment spectacle, this match -- like the Cape Town sunshine this week -- had very little to offer.

Spare a thought for the South African supporters who braved the downpour to see their World Champions in action, only to be left twiddling their thumbs dreaming of a warm shower after the match -- they deserved it, the Springboks did not.

Bok coach Peter de Villiers will be questioning his decision to field an experimental side just two weeks before a Test match against the All Blacks on New Zealand soil.  Based on this performance, the answer was there for all to see.

For a start, while Francois Steyn could well still be the future Bok fly-half in that he is still only 21 years of age and has time to learn, that future is definitely not any time soon.

Steyn battled with his decision-making, and while his prodigious field-kicking boot played a part in keeping the Italians pinned in the corners, he generally just makes too many mistakes when filling this critical position to inspire any confidence.

One thing that is becoming clearer with each passing week is that Luke Watson is definitely not the answer as a specialist openside flanker.

He does not hunt and scavenge for the ball like a number six should, and appears to have morphed into a linking and ball carrying loose forward, which is perhaps understandable if you consider where he plays for the Stormers.

De Villiers and his staff will be also be relatively worried about the Bok scrum which was fairly solid but didn't dominate, this against a side missing three of their top props.

Credit to the Italians, who against all odds, put in a brave performance that made the champions of the world look very ordinary indeed.  Hats off to coach Nick Mallett too, who can hold his head high in defeat against his former team that under his reign put 101-points past the Azzurri.

Italy may have been nilled once again, but can take heart from this match after giving it their all for the entire 80 minutes, a shame they couldn't have been rewarded with any points for their efforts.

But the Springboks will take this win -- their thirteenth on the trot -- and while this one-off Test won't be stored in any rugby fan's memory bank, at least now we look forward to the Tri-Nations ahead.

A rout appeared on the cards after tries from Steyn and Bismarck Du Plessis inside the opening 16 minutes but South Africa never looked comfortable in the inclement weather conditions, despite dominating territory and possession.

But what a start it was.

South Africa, in their first attacking move of the match thanks to a mesmerising run by Bryan Habana, were celebrating a try to Steyn in the sixth minute after the Bok pivot gathered his grubber kick ahead at full pace that ended off with a dive beside the posts.

The simple conversion followed suit and the home side were off to an early lead that was expected of them.

The Springboks were most impressive when their forwards drove with the ball and Du Plessis scored off such a move following a line-out and drive five metres from the Italy line.

Stand-in captain Victor Matfield, playing in his 70th Test for South Africa, did his business in the air before tapping down to Juan Smith -- who had a quiet match -- and the rumbling pack did the rest as Du Plessis powered over from close range.

Steyn had the umbrellas waving in delight with his touchline conversion that took the score to 14-0, but that's where it stayed for the remainder of the half.

Not even against fourteen men could South Africa capitalise to the max -- five points is all the hosts could conjure up thanks to another Du Plessis try after the break.

South African-born lock Carlo Antonio Del Fava was given his marching orders after a shoulder charge on Ryan Kankowski resulted in the Bok number eight leaving the field on a strecher.

The Sharks star has now been ruled out for the next two weeks with concussion.

But Kankowski's pain was Joe van Niekerk's gain as the South African loose forward made his return to international rugby after a four-year absence and didn't disappoint in his 44 minutes on the field.

The same couldn't be said of his old Bok team-mate Gcobani Bobo, who dropped the majority of the eleven handling errors racked up South Africa.

Winger Odwa Ndungane had an average game on debut in a match that wouldn't have sui-ted most wingers, but made a real blunder by taking a tap kick with his knee after calling a mark following a superb take off the high ball of soap.

But a telling burst from scrum-half Ricky Januarie -- who was at his sniping best -- got the crowd off their slippery seats, and ended with a first try to prop Tendai Mtawaria after taking an inside ball from Habana who did all the hard work along the touchline.

The 36,623-strong crowd would have been thrilled with the big man after urging him on with the calls of "Beeeeeeeeeeast" ringing throughout the stadium.

Steyn was succesful with the touchline conversion that took the score to 26-0 in the 55th minute and that, as they say, was that.

Even the Springbok cavalry failed to ignite the score with the likes of Schalk Burger unable to stamp his authority on the dour affair after six weeks nursing an injury on the sideline.  But that was to be expected after his long lay-off.

Fellow replacement Ruan Pienaar didn't help his cause for the number nine jersey either after dropping -- no, throwing -- away his grip on the ball after a promising counter-attack on the stroke of full-time.

The game ended with the pigskin a metre in front of him in a move that could have saved the Boks some face with a bigger score.

Pienaar's blunder summed up the match perfectly for the hosts in a disappointing match, littered with mistakes and poor options.

Man of the match:  For Italy, rookie fly-half Luke McLean passed his first taste of Test rugby with flying colours.  His kicks out of hand in the wet forced South Africa into making their own mistakes in their futile attempt to run it back.  Not too many candidates from the Bok camp though, as we've already discussed, but perhaps if anyone should take this accolade home it's Victor Matfield.  The skipper once again worked his line-out wonders with three steals and took two takes that led to a try on both occasions to his hooker Bismarck du Plessis.

Moment of the match:  The final whistle? Tempting, but we'll go for Steyn's opening try that gave the crowd what they came in their wellingtons to see.  After the final whistle, one senses they would have used the same footwear up their beloved team's backside if they had the chance.

Villain of the match:  Looking at the replays, it seemed harsh to get a sin-binning.  But Carlo Antonio Del Fava's hit on Ryan Kankowski took out the only South African loose forward that could have made a difference in this match.  Shame on you Del Fava.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Steyn, Du Plessis 2, Mtawaria
Cons:  Steyn 3

Yellow card:  Del Fava, dangerous tackle (Italy, 36 min)

South Africa:  15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Jean De Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Francois Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ Van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawaria.
Replacements:  16 Schalk Brits, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Joe Van Niekerk, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Ruan Pienaar.

Italy:  15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Simon Picone, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements:  16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Jaco Erasmus, 19 Tommaso Reato, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Enrico Patrizio, 22 Riccardo Pavan.

Referee:  George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges:  Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Graham Hughes (England)