Springboks beat Italy but defused ‘bomb squad’ fail to build on convincing first-half lead

Springboks

Vincent Koch celebrates his Springboks try versus Italy

South Africa got their 2025 Test season underway on Saturday with a 42-24 win over Italy in Pretoria.

The Springboks, who can feel pleased with how the likes of Test debutant Vincent Tshituka went, deserve praise for the directness of their first-half attack as a four-try display had them 28-3 clear.

However, their second-half display wasn’t as clinical, and questions will be asked about the ineffectiveness of the bomb squad as the resolute Italians ‘won’ the second period 21-14.

This comeback was a match pattern different from what had been seen so far in 2025 from the visitors as Italy, under Gonzalo Quesada, don’t usually roll over in the first half of games.

Springboks vs Italy live match centre

The margins at the break in their recent Six Nations losses to Ireland, England and Scotland were two, four and 10 points respectively – and even in their 49-point hammering versus France, the gap at the break was just 18 after they managed a couple of tries of their own.

The blunted Italians folded early at Loftus Versfeld, though, paying a heavy price for their coach’s decision to travel with a tour squad minus a raft of experienced players.

Last weekend’s facile 73-6 win over Namibia in Windhoek was an insufficient prep for the intensity of the play generated by a Springboks XV showing five changes – including the long-awaited return of Damian Willemse – from the uncapped stroll versus the Barbarians in Cape Town seven days earlier.

The Italians, who hadn’t played the Boks since a November 2022 hammering in Genoa, came under immediate pressure in Pretoria, Eben Etzebeth charging down Alessandro Fusco’s attempted clearance kick just seconds into a contest the hosts soon went on to dominate at the scrum.

A monster eighth-minute set-piece turnover at an Italian put-in was a highlight, and this show of power was followed two minutes later by the opening score. Skipper Jesse Kriel fastened onto a grubber kick from Damian de Allende on penalty advantage, and he nabbed the try converted by Handre Pollard.

Some handling errors delayed the Springboks extending their lead, but Lorenzo Cannone’s 23rd-minute yellow card was the cue for the hosts to immediately strike from the five-metre scrum they opted for from the resulting penalty.

With the Azzurri pack hurtling backwards under their posts, Morne van den Berg easily touched down and Pollard added the extras for a 14-point cushion.

Italy were in dire need of some possession and territory to stem the wound, and an offside from Tshituka allowed them a 28th-minute shot at goal from distance that Giacomo Da Re landed to reduce the margin

This respite was fleeting, though, as lineout ball two minutes later was popped to Kurt-Lee Arendse on the 10-metre line and his excellent footwork bludgeoned the Azzurri defence.

With the steely-eyed Pollard converting, South Africa has ‘won’ the 10-minute sin-binning period 14-3, and further damage was inflicted before the break despite Cannone’s return to the field.

Another penalty was scrummed down five metres from the line and Van den Berg again proved unstoppable, fooling the defence with a dummy and darting over.

Pollard’s ensuing kick left it 28-3 heading down the tunnel and with the result already decided, the question when the teams returned for the second half was how wide the margin would ultimately be. Incredibly, it was just 18 points, seven less than the 25 it was at the break.

The Italians breathed a sigh of relief as a Vincent Tshituka score just 97 seconds after the restart was scrubbed out on review due to the obstruction on halfway from Ox Nche that had illegally opened a corridor for Willemse to race through.

There was further cheer for the visitors when Manuel Zuliani wriggled over for a converted 46th-minute try after Malcolm Marx got his decision wrong defending at a ruck.

The ‘bomb squad’ that failed to go off

The pin was pulled two minutes later on the ‘bomb squad’, but this tactic of changing their pack’s entire tight five in one go soon didn’t convince on this occasion. Vincent Koch was celebrating a 57th-minute converted try, but South Africa failed to push on.

Four minutes later, Arendse pulled off a superb try-saving tackle in-goal on Simone Gesi, but nothing could be done to stop the impressive 63rd-minute maul that ended with the debut making Pablo Dimcheff touching down and Da Re converting.

That shaved the gap to 18, and it was cut to 11 five minutes later with Niccolo Cannone rolling in under the posts for Italy’s third second-half try. This was as close as they got, though, as Marco van Staden’s converted 73rd-minute try closed out South Africa’s six tries to three win.

Springboks: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux

Italy: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone (c), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti

Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)

Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (RFU), Andrew Brace (IRFU)

TMO: Andrew Jackson (RFU)

FPRO: Tual Trainini (FFR)