TRY FEST: Nine-try Springboks blitz Italy in Turin to set Nations Championship pace

It was as if the Springboks spent the last six weeks stewing on that loss to Australia in Perth after the highs of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, and took it out on Italy.

The Springboks brushed off the pre-game loss of lock Salmaan Moerat and scored nine tries on their way to a record away win over Italy. Lood de Jager moved into the starting lineup and Franco Mostert was drafted onto the bench.

The Boks scored six first-half tries – five coming inside the first 25 minutes – in a display of relentless pressure that was tectonic in its intensity.

This record win over Italy, in Italy, leaves the Boks with a +140 points’ difference. That could be crucial in deciding the final log positions.

They added a further three after the break, in a more disjointed second half, but this game was over way before the players went to the sheds for some refreshment.

Bok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored 26 points from a fine solo try, nine conversions and a penalty. He landed a perfect 10 out of 10 kicks at goal.

The Boks also moved to a maximum 20 points on the Nations Championship standings after four games, and boosted their points’ difference significantly.

This record win over Italy, in Italy, leaves the Boks with a +140 points’ difference. That could be crucial in deciding the final log positions.

Blistering start

From the start, Italy were simply never given a chance to gain a foothold in the match. Every scrap, every minor battle, went the way of the men in green.

It was foreboding when wing Monty Ioane dropped a simple pass inside his 22, seconds into the match. That mistake was the beginning of nearly 40 straight minutes of suffocating pressure from the visitors.

The Boks ruled the air, with wings Ethan Hooker and Kurt-Lee Arendse taking five contestable kicks from the grey skies from under the noses of floundering Italian defenders. Hooker was outstanding throughout and enjoyed 30 valuable minutes at inside centre in the second half.

The world champions ruled the ground with Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian de Allende and Jasper Wiese punching holes in the Azzurri defence, and Ox Nché, Siya Kolisi and Morné van den Berg winning the scraps on the deck.

And even when the Boks had some defending to do – and there wasn’t much in the first half – they were brutal. Pieter-Steph du Toit epitomised the effort, chasing back to obliterate star Italian wing Ange Capuouzzo to send a message that even without the ball the Boks would remain relentless.

Even though Italy managed to neutralise the Boks’ scrum dominance in the first half, they had no answer to the rolling maul.

Under so much pressure, Italy’s errors piled up as they conceded six penalties and a yellow card to prop Muhamed Hasan on the half hour. The Boks feasted off those free entries into Italian territory.

Hooker Malcolm Marx scored his 30^th and 31^st Test tries from the back of rolling mauls in the opening stanza.

Kolisi also went in for a try via the same route.  The lineout was the result of a spectacular 50/22 kick by Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Van den Berg also sniped in from close range from a move that started with a rolling maul, before De Allende punched the ball up for another gain of a few metres, creating the space for the Bok scrumhalf to burrow over.

They weren’t done though. Fullback Damian Willemse scored after lock Lood de Jager charged down a kick. Wiese picked up and stormed through a hole in the defence before throwing an outrageous inside ball to Willemse to complete the first-half romp.

Stemming the bleeding

The Boks, perhaps understandable, were a little off their game at the start of the second half.

Italy won a scrum penalty two minutes after the break and had the world champions under pressure for a time.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus’ answer was to send on five forward replacements in one go.

It didn’t immediately stop the momentum shift though as Italy continued to create problems, but without anything to show for it.

Giant tighthead Wilco Louw scored a rare try – his third in his 37^th Test – after a multiple phase build-up to halt Italy’s best period of the match.

Italy were eventually rewarded for their efforts when lock Federico Ruzza scored from a training-ground move that had its genesis from a lineout deep inside Bok territory.

The Boks, though, awoke from a brief slumber and added tries from both flanker Paul de Villiers via – you guessed it – the back of a rolling maul, and from Hooker late in the game.

Van den Berg was officially named man of the match, which was deserved. But any one of several Springboks would have been deserving of the accolade too.

So, it’s on to Paris and another showdown with Les Bleus at Stade de France next week. DM

Scorers:

Italy – Try: Federico Ruzza. Conversion: Tommaso Allan.

South Africa – Tries: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Morné van den Berg, Malcolm Marx (2), Siya Kolisi, Damian Willemse, Wilco Louw, Paul de Villiers, Ethan Hooker. Conversions: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (9). Penalties: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.