Following a 42-24 victory for the Springboks over Italy in Pretoria on Saturday, here’s our five takeaways from the mid-year international at Loftus Versfeld.

The top line

The Springboks produced a powerful first-half performance to overcome Italy and make it two wins from two in their mid-year series so far.

After a dominant victory over the Barbarians last weekend, they appeared on course for another fine win as they moved 28-3 in front at the interval. Based on South African rugby’s traditional strengths of scrum, physicality and accurate kicking, Italy had no answer to the four-time Rugby World Cup winners.

They struggled to get out of their own half in the opening period as the Boks brutally demolished their opponents. Rassie Erasmus’ men touched down four times before the breakthrough Jesse Kriel, Morne van den Berg (twice) and Kurt-Lee Arendse, and many expected the same in the second half.

It did not materialise, however, as the Azzurri responded and got themselves to within 11 points going into the final 10 minutes. Manuel Zuliani, Pablo Dimcheff and Niccolo Cannone all crossed the whitewash as they displayed their fighting spirit.

While the hosts did get over the line twice more through Vincent Koch and Marco van Staden, there would have been an element of frustration from Erasmus and co. with their performance in the final 40 minutes.

Springboks’ main weapon

Italy rested plenty of forwards ahead of this series but they still had two quality front-row operators in Danilo Fischetti and Simone Ferrari. However, both were absolutely munched by their opposition props in Ox Nche and Wilco Louw in the first half, which laid the platform for this dominant victory.

The scrum has always been a focal point under Rassie Erasmus but it looked particularly fierce on Saturday with the in-form Louw anchoring it from tighthead. The Bulls star enjoyed the finest season of his career in the United Rugby Championship and that dominance was repeated in the Test arena.

While his partner in crime on Saturday, Nche, has not been quite as impressive as usual this year, back in the national team under the tutelage of scrum doctor Daan Human, the loosehead was immense and found his form against Italy. It simply meant that the Azzurri were unable to gain a foothold in the contest before the break, despite their physicality in other parts of the game, as the hosts continually marched forwards.

That changed later in the game, though. Although the South African replacements still held an edge at the scrum, it became less of a factor and as a result relieved the pressure on their opponents, enabling the Italians to save themselves from embarrassment.

Settling into Test rugby

Another reason for the Boks’ dominance was the accuracy from the base of Morne van den Berg. The scrum-half’s Test appearances prior to 2025 have been underwhelming, to say the least, but his performance against the Barbarians was promising, and that was followed by another fine effort to suggest that he has found his feet at this level.

POPULAR ON PLANET RUGBY

Van den Berg’s box-kicking was exceptional against the Barbarians and it was equally good a week later as they dominated aerially. The half-back is fortunate to have two very willing chasers in Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, who also happen to be their size, by competing superbly under the high ball, but a lot of it was down to the Lions star’s ability to give them a chance to contest.

With the brilliance of those three taking the hosts down the field, it enabled Vincent Tshituka to shine. With ball in hand the flanker was brutal in the carry, making plenty of metres in the closer exchanges, while defensively he hit hard. Tshituka was also a very useful option in the lineout as he, alongside Van den Berg, shone.

Direct Boks

Last year, after new attack coach Tony Brown joined the Boks set-up, there was a real conscious effort to become more expansive after they won back-to-back Rugby World Cups based on defence, set-piece and kicking.

Erasmus is a master of spotting trends in the sport and how the laws can perhaps suit certain teams at a specific time. While they certainly did not neglect the fundamentals, the head honcho certainly felt that they needed to improve their attack and in 2024 there was a noticeable shift in their mentality.

It is therefore interesting that for the first two games of 2025, they have almost reverted to the incredibly direct game which served them so well between 2019 and 2023. We will ignore the Barbarians game, given that conditions made it impossible to play free-flowing rugby, but against Italy, the Boks very much went back to their traditional strengths with a brutal forward display.

Now, it could be player-related, with Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit, who were purposefully placed out wide last year to offer a carrying option in those channels, both currently injured, or it might be based on their opposition and attempting to negate the threat of Italy. In Tommaso Menoncello, the Azzuri have one of the most talented backs in the world game at the moment, who is both exceptional with the ball in hand and excellent at the breakdown.

South Africa are ultimately using these games as building blocks ahead of their Rugby Championship title defence and they may gradually expand their game as the season goes on, but the evidence would suggest that they will not be quite as expansive this year. It is certainly something to watch as the campaign plays out.

Italy’s resistance

At 28-3 in arrears at the break, it could have got very ugly for the Azzurri, but this young side, who were without a few key players, showed commendable spirit to fight back and give their coaches plenty to be pleased about.

For 50 minutes, Manuel Zuliani was pretty much on his own. The flanker was absolutely magnificent, getting at least two crucial turnovers, tackling his heart out and touching down for the try that gave his side a glimmer of hope in the second period.

For those who have watched Benetton this season, it is not a surprise, but it was still a statement performance from the flanker. He kept the Boks in check and prevented the world champions from racking up a big score.

Zuliani was then joined by his team-mates in the final half-hour as the Azzurri improved in the latter stages. Usually, it is the famed ‘Bomb Squad’ that dominates and makes a decisive impact, but the Springboks became loose when the replacements were made and it was the visitors’ ‘Grenade Squad’ who had the better of the final quarter.