South Africa run in 9 tries against the Italians

The Springboks ran riot in Turin. They led 45-0 at half-time and scored nine tries to Italy’s one.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu opened the scoring with a penalty in the 5th minute. Two minutes later he scored a solo try and converted it. He kicked all nine conversions and finished with 26 points (one try, nine conversions, one penalty).

The tries then came steadily. Morne van den Berg scored from close range in the 15th minute and Malcolm Marx in the 19th. Siya Kolisi finished a rolling maul in the 22nd, and Damian Willemse crossed off a passing move in the 24th. Marx added a second from a maul in the 31st.

Italy had Muhamed Hasa yellow-carded in the 29th minute, and South Africa scored again two minutes later.

Italy’s only points came after the break. Federico Ruzza scored off a passing move in the 51st minute, set up by Stephen Varney, and Tommaso Allan converted. South Africa’s bench kept scoring. Wilco Louw went over in the 49th and Paul de Villiers from a rolling maul in the 62nd. Ethan Hooker, who had been South Africa’s most dangerous runner, finished off the scoring in the 70th minute.

Three areas Italy struggled

1. Defending the maul and close range. Seven of South Africa’s nine tries came from the maul or from close range. Three were rolling-maul tries (Kolisi, Marx, de Villiers) and four were close-range finishes (van den Berg, Marx, Louw, Hooker). Italy had no answer to the Boks’ pack.
2. Line-break defence. Italy conceded 13 clean breaks to the Boks and made just two of their own. Hooker alone beat the line six times, and Arendse, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, de Allende, Wiese and Kriel all got through as well.
3. Discipline and a slow start. Italy conceded a penalty goal by the 5th minute and a try by the 7th. They trailed 45-0 at the break and had a player in the sin bin (Hasa, 29th minute) when South Africa scored the second Marx try. They did not score until the 51st minute.