By Gavin Rich.
Siya Kolisi’s Springboks delivered the statement performance their supporters were hoping for as they ran riot after halftime to score a comprehensive 63-21 drubbing of Italy in their third tour match in Genoa on Saturday.
After two narrow defeats to the two teams ranked No 1 and No 2 in the world respectively, Ireland and France, the Boks desperately needed a win as a first priority and a rousing performance as second against an Azzurri team that had raised their own hopes of a momentous win over the world champions by beating Australia the previous week.
The Boks made nonsense of the fighting talk from Italy in a game played in a boisterous atmosphere even when the visitors were far ahead on the scoreboard. They scored nine tries, seven of those in a completely dominant second half but for one really good consolation score from Italy when the game was long over as a contest.
Any hopes of an upset flickered only briefly for the hosts in a game where the tone was really set in just the second minute. That was how long it took the Boks to score their first try as Italy were punished for their inability to exit and a show and go and then skip pass from flyhalf Damian Willemse gave wing Kurt-Lee Arendse the modicum of space he needed to weave his magic.
Not that he didn’t have quite a lot to do still, with the Bulls wing using his pace and low-level running style to make it to a few metres from the line before rolling through a tackle to dot down.
Italy did come back in the next quarter of an hour, and South Africa’s own poor exiting was effectively punished by a good build-up from Italy that was rounded off by the X-factor of fullback Ange Capuozzo, who seared through a gap off a short pass and then used his pace to beat the Bok cover defenders.
The Tommaso Allan conversion put the Italians into the lead and they stretched that lead with a penalty, but the Boks came back with a second penalty from Cheslin Kolbe and then Bongi Mbonambi broke off a driving maul to score the Boks’ second try a minute short of the half-hour mark. With the conversion making it 18-13 to the visitors, that was the last time in the game Italy led.
To be fair though, the Boks did always look like they were going to take control, both with the pace with which they played, with the backs again running kicks back on the counter-attack and the team in general committing more to ball-in-hand rugby, and showing what can be done if they add extra strings to their attacking brow, as had been promised in an ultimately losing cause against France in Marseille, and the slow poison of their every increasing forward dominance.
The Boks went to halftime with their five-point advantage probably feeling they had still left some points on the table as they had made errors, with their exiting after kick-offs being one of the problem areas.
However, after an Allan penalty cut the deficit to just two points after halftime, the Boks got the bit properly between their teeth immediately after that as Cheslin Kolbe followed up the Willemse kick-off by taking the ball in the air and going through to score a brilliant individualistic try. Minutes later it was the other wing, Arendse, and it is a great thing to say about a Bok wing that he had a really busy afternoon, who worked his way over in the corner for his second try.
That made it 30-16 with a superb angled conversion from Manie Libbok, who came on for his second cap as a replacement for Kolbe, and should feel happy for his contribution as a creative influence with his passing game in what was to come in the last quarter. Italy were never going to make up 14 points, particularly with the energy brought by the Bok bomb squad, with the likes of Eben Etzebeth, Steven Kitshoff and Kwagga Smith joining Libbok in excelling.
Smith was the next to score for the Boks as he ran over off a loose scrum about 10 metres out from the line and then Kitshoff joined him on the try-scoring sheet, but not before Malcolm Marx had sandwiched a try for himself off a driving maul.
Libbok played flyhalf when he came on because the starting flyhalf Willemse moved to the wing, and Willemse was to benefit from that switch by scoring a try of his own as the ball was moved quickly to the right off a penalty advantage. He went over wide, which gave his Stormers teammate Libbok the challenge of kicking the conversion from the angle in a swirling wind, and Libbok passed that challenge with flying colours.
The Boks rounded off the rout with a long-range try, something that is suddenly starting to become more commonplace, as the hard-working skipper Kolisi featured in the passing movement deep in his own half that created the space down the right flank that was used by the flying Arendse, who in turn put in reserve scrumhalf Cobus Reinach for the try.
Scores
South Africa 63 – Tries:Kurt-Lee Arendse 2, Bongi Mbonambi, Cheslin Kolbe, Kwagga Smith, Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Damian Willemse and Cobus Reinach; Conversions:Cheslin Kolbe and Manie Libbok 5; Penalties:Cheslin Kolbe 2.
Italy 21 – Try:Ange Capuozzo and Niccolò Cannone; Conversion:Tommaso Allan; Penalties:Tommaso Allan 3.