Clinical Springboks thrash 14-man Italy

South Africa’s impressive recent form at the Rugby World Cup continued when they notched a deserved 49-3 victory over Italy in Shizuoka on Friday.

Although the Springboks dominated for long periods, the complexion of the match changed in the 43rd minute when Italy’s Andrea Lovotti received a red card for upending Duane Vermeulen in a tackle and dumping him on his head.

South Africa were leading 17-3 at the time and with a numerical advantage they dominated the rest of the match.

They eventually ran in seven unanswered tries with Cheslin Kolbe (2), Bongi Mbonambi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, RG Snyman and Malcolm Marx all crossing the whitewash.

Handre Pollard finished with a 14-point haul courtesy of four conversions and two penalties while Italy’s only points came via a penalty from Tommaso Allan.

Italy suffered an early setback when Simone Ferrari was forced off the field with a leg injury in the third minute.  His replacement, Marco Riccioni, was soon on the back foot at a scrum and he was penalised for illegal scrummaging.

The Boks put the resulting penalty into touch on the Azzurri’s 22-metre line and went on the attack deep inside their opponents’ half.  After setting up a couple of phases, the ball came out to Willie le Roux, who threw a long pass to Kolbe, and the diminutive flyer showed his class as he stepped past Michele Campagnaro and Matteo Minozzi before crossing in the right-hand corner.

Pollard added the extras from close to the touchline but Allan opened Italy’s account when he slotted a penalty in the ninth minute after Mbonambi had infringed at a ruck.

Three minutes later, Italy’s backs strayed offside on defence and Pollard made no mistake off the kicking tee which gave his side a 10-3 lead.

Italy were dealt another blow in the 18th minute when Riccioni also had to leave the field for a HIA which he failed and that meant there would be uncontested scrums for the rest of the match.

Despite being neutralised in the scrums, the Boks continued to dominate the other tight phases and in the 27th minute they launched a lineout drive inside Italy’s 22 from which Mbonambi crossed for his side’s second try.

The Azzurri needed a response if they wanted to win the match and they too had an opportunity from a lineout inside South Africa’s 22 but the Boks’ defence did well to stop them in their tracks and soon won a penalty close to their try-line.

The rest of the half petered out with neither side managing to score further points and the Boks had their tails up with the score 17-3 in their favour at half-time.

Full-time | Cheslin Kolbe scores twice as @Springboks beat Italy by 46 points #RSAvITA #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/wqBqRGBY3H

— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 4, 2019

Italy made a bright start to the second half and three minutes after the restart they were on the attack close to South Africa’s try-line after a brilliant line break from Braam Steyn.

That all came to nothing, however, as Italy were soon reduced to 14 men after Lovotti’s moment of madness and the Boks soon regained the initiative.

Shortly afterwards, Du Toit dotted down after running onto a pass from Pollard but that effort was disallowed after television replays revealed that Siya Kolisi had obstructed Tito Tebaldi in the build-up.

The Boks did not panic, however, and a penalty from Pollard in the 51st minute was followed by another try from Kolbe, after gathering a cross-field kick from the pivot.  And five minutes later, they secured their bonus-point try when Am crossed the whitewash after good work from Le Roux in the build-up.

With the game in the bag, the Boks upped the ante on the attack and the final quarter was a one-sided affair.  They sealed an emphatic win with late tries from Mapimpi, Snyman and Marx, and are now on course to reach the quarter-finals.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Kolbe 2, Mbonambi, Am, Mapimpi, Snyman, Marx
Cons:  Pollard 4
Pens:  Pollard 2

For Italy:
Pen:  Allan
Red Card:  Lovotti

South Africa:  15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements:  16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Francois Louw, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn

Italy:  15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Jayden Hayward, 11 Michele Campagnaro, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Braam Steyn, 5 Dean Budd, 4 David Sisi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Federico Zani, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Sebastian Negri, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Carlo Canna

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Romain Poite (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO:  Rowan Kitt (England)