15 Willie le Roux, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Thomas du Toit
Reserves: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker

15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Jacopo Trulla, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolò Cannone (c), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Reserves: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 David Odiase, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

No sure if there's enough interest for a match thread.. but there were a few comments after the first game

Can’t see Italy backing up last week’s performance

SA comfortably

Why not ? They will have a cohesion the Springboks won't have due to the many changes in the team. But the Springboks' firepower should easily prevail in the end IMO.

Because history

Looking forward to see Willie and Libbok factor to put AE and Moodie in space on attack. SMZ from the bench is also great.. Expect much more attack from the Bokke.

The fuck? Surely intentionally doing that is a penalty?

SA purposefully ran in front of the kicker at kick off and only kicked it like 2m straight to the guy in front, to force a scrum.

Wiese goes full Wiese. Red card for a headbutt.

Prolly about time Rassie and his boys got their comeuppance for their antics, but can't see Italy taking advantage.

@Bones said in Springboks v Italy II:

Wiese goes full Wiese. Red card for a headbutt.

I thought there was nothing in that - just touched his forehead with the Italian player. Totally deserved Red for stupidity in today's reffing environment, though.

And the Italian on the sideline in acres of space, knocking it on spectacularly from a fine pass, illustrates why.

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Bones said in Springboks v Italy II:

Wiese goes full Wiese. Red card for a headbutt.

I thought there was nothing in that - just touched his forehead with the Italian player. Totally deserved Red for stupidity in today's reffing environment, though.

Prexactly. There's zero reason to do it, doing it either shows you've lost your head or you're trying to aggravate others to. Fuck it off.

Would've been red a year or two ago, but will be mitigated to yellow for the change in direction.

I only just realised that's not Kolbe on the wing

A 14 man Sth Africa with loads of new players are making the Italian A team look a bit silly.

Hate to think what they'd do to the French team currently in NZ.

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

Hate to think what they'd do to the French team currently in NZ.

Lose horribly.

Who are the new players?

@Bones said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

Hate to think what they'd do to the French team currently in NZ.

Lose horribly.

Who are the new players?

I heard the Saffa commentators talking about 4 debutants.

Strikes me SA are years ahead of us player-pool/development wise

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Bones said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

Hate to think what they'd do to the French team currently in NZ.

Lose horribly.

Who are the new players?

I heard the Saffa commentators talking about 4 debutants.

Strikes me SA are years ahead of us player-pool/development wise

By playing 4 debutants against what appears to be a weakened Italy?

I can't tell if you're taking the piss or angling on a foster defence.

Norris, Holland, Kirifi, Tavatavanawai....

I'm thinking I've been whooshed

@Bones

Thinking more about how much better SA are at developing players.

And playing for 80 minutes...

EDIT: The Barrett Conglomerate make up for stupid cards though.....

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Bones

Thinking more about how much better SA are at developing players.

And playing for 80 minutes...

Their depth is scary good atm. They do have the massive advantage of having 4x the registered players that we do and they pick from overseas. We also lose plenty of our schoolboy talent to the NRL, something that they don't have to worry about.

@Victor-Meldrew they have a clear way of playing. It helps. Quite a lot of change coming in the next 2-3 years as their squad changes.

They have an insane amount of talent, but SA always has. Rassie is adept at selecting the right players for how he wants to play. They still bleed when you cut them though

@stodders

Like the French team. Was more commenting about how much more clinical SA are for 80 mins and how much depth they have.

@stodders said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Victor-Meldrew they have a clear way of playing. It helps. Quite a lot of change coming in the next 2-3 years as their squad changes.

They have an insane amount of talent, but SA always has. Rassie is adept at selecting the right players for how he wants to play. They still bleed when you cut them though

Hope so. Want to roll them over in the RC.

@Victor-Meldrew said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Bones

Thinking more about how much better SA are at developing players.

And playing for 80 minutes...

EDIT: The Barrett Conglomerate make up for stupid cards though.....

I'm just at a bit of a loss comparing Italy development team to France development team. And the bit about 4 debutants really made my whoosh alert spin.

@Victor-Meldrew maybe. But the Boks have 11 reasonably experienced players playing alongside the rookies. And none of the rookies are playing in combos with other rookies.

Whereas the French forward pack today was green and got dealt to (as they should) until the experience rolled off the bench.

@stodders said in Springboks v Italy II:

But the Boks have 11 reasonably experienced players playing alongside the rookies. And none of the rookies are playing in combos with other rookies.

Guess that's kinda my point. We aren't in that position with settled combos quite yet. Good progress though.

SA approach is one we should look at

@Victor-Meldrew why? ABs were doing it 20 years ago with Henry, Smith and Hansen with their rest and rotation strategy. This isn’t new. NZ just haven’t been as good at exposing enough up and coming talent to test match rugby because the team has been struggling and winning has been the focus.

@stodders I'm tempted to side with Victor having too much red and eyeing up a shark jump.

@Bones best have a wash too

@stodders said in Springboks v Italy II:

@Bones best have a wash too

Let's not get carried away

Rassie has been watching Paul Roos tactics.

@OomPB jumping into the tackle and obstruction.

Absolutely fucking destroyed

By 14 men, 13 for 10 mins

@booboo

Law 12.8(d):
“If the kicker's team is not behind the ball when it is kicked, a free-kick is awarded to the opposing team at the centre of the half-way line.”

@Bones said in Springboks v Italy II:

@OomPB jumping into the tackle and obstruction.

A case of rejecting reality, to substitute your own Bones. The Copium is real.

Law 9.26
In open play, any player may lift or support a player from the same team. Players who support or lift a teammate must lower the player to the ground safely as soon as the ball is won by a player of either team.

@PN said in Springboks v Italy II:

@booboo

Law 12.8(d):
“If the kicker's team is not behind the ball when it is kicked, a free-kick is awarded to the opposing team at the centre of the half-way line.”

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So the ref cocked up and it should have been a free kick at least?

I'm pretty sure the drafting of the Law assumes the transgression is unintentional.

Will have to check out Laws around intentional transgression of the Laws.

A bit of waffle in the preamble to the Law book:

SPIRIT
Rugby owes much of its appeal to the fact that it is played both to the letter and
within the spirit of the laws. The responsibility for ensuring that this happens lies not with one individual - it involves coaches, captains, players and referees.