Italrugby takes a lesson from South Africa, it ends 7-66 in Turin

Four defeats in as many matches for Italy in the Nations Championship, but today's very tough defeat against South Africa was certainly the most predictable, given the strength of the reigning world champions. In Turin the Springboks immediately unleashed all their power and in the first half they scored six tries and 45 points, to zero, while in the second, with the Azzurri a little more active, they only rounded up for the final 66-7.

"South Africa's first 40 minutes were of incredible quality, one of the best first halves played in recent times and we were dominated. We faced the best team in the world: I think it was the key to the match", read the coach, Gonzalo Quesada, who invites his team not to get too down and to look forward to the next match, not much easier, next Saturday against Argentina in Genoa.

There was almost no time to settle on the pitch for the Azzurri, as the Springboks took the lead with a place by Mngomezulu and then scored with Mngomezulu himself, Van den Berg, Marx (double), Kolisi and Willemse. The South Africans' attacking waves were incessant and Italy, in a silent Allianz Stadium, almost never managed to slow them down, also thanks to various errors in quality and attention.

In the second half, Louw scored the seventh try for the 52-0 and only after an hour of play Ruzza put the ball on the ground and Allan converted to score the only Italian points, a fair reward for a fraction of the match played better. De Villiers and Feinberg, with time up, re-established the distance with the last two of the visitors' nine tries.

"The boys put in the effort and there are some positive aspects, such as closing down actions and working in maul defence. On the other hand, however, there are things that didn't work, like the footwork, or the free kicks - analyzed Quesada - and we made mistakes even without being under pressure. In the second half, up until the 70th minute, we managed to partially get back into the game, we had more possession and some interesting initiatives."

The coach did not mention the many absences, which instead was kindly referred to by his colleague, Rassie Erasmus: "I know that Italy was not at full strength, it did not have some of its best elements and I believe that at the World Cup the challenge will be different", he said, referring to group A of the world championship tournament, which also includes Georgia and Romania. Disappointment in the words of the captain, Nicotera, who said he was "sorry and saddened, because we did not fully respect the values ​​that we recognize as Italy. At the same time, I remain proud of the challenge we faced and of some positive aspects that emerged against the world champions, who came here with the best team to face us".