Springboks v Italy: Five takeaways as Rassie Erasmus continues to ‘innovate’ but still left frustrated by stupid ‘brain fade’

A smart, accurate, and aggressive Springboks outfit put their Loftus low behind them to notch up a comprehensive seven-try victory inspired by innovation and sheer brutality.

The inexperienced Azzurri outscored the world champions in the second half in Pretoria last week, but today, they were completely shut out by a driven Bok outfit despite a mindless act that resulted in a full red card.

That came from powerhouse number eight Jasper Wiese, who headbutted prop Danilo Fischetti in the 21st minute of the match with his team up 10-0 at the time.

Grant Williams, who had a blinder, got the scoreboard ticking over in the eighth minute of the game as Man of the Match Edwill van der Merwe sprinted through a gap before linking up with his fellow backs, leading to the scrum-half’s opener.

That was followed by an inch-perfect finish by Van der Merwe in the 15th minute as the winger flirted with the touchline after a superb skip pass by Manie Libbok. In his second cap for the Boks, the winger doubled his tally as Willie Le Roux, celebrating his 100th cap, put in a deft kick for Van der Merwe to chase and duly replied to cross the whitewash.

Canan Moodie added his name to the scoresheet after a shock midfield lineout with South Africa heading into the break with a 24-0 lead.

Malcom Marx, Makazole Mapimpi and Jan-Hendrik Wessells all crossed in the second half as the Boks thundered to an impressive victory in which they nilled the Azzurri.

Innovation, innovation, innovation

“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”

Those words were reportedly uttered by Albert Einstein, but certainly fit the Rassie Erasmus, his coaching staff and his players who executed the absurd from the very first action of the match.

The Springboks back their scrum and love to flex their strength at the set-piece, and they wasted no time in getting to the first set of the match as Manie Libbok chipped the ball into the arms of Andre Esterhuizen with the first kick of the game.

It’s a brave, brave tactic that can epically blow up in your face, but this team is not afraid to take those risks, as we saw during the Rugby World Cup. Then it was the likes of Damian Willemse and Handre Pollard calling for scrums inside their own 22 after claiming marks. Now, this is just a fresh take to force the opposition to front up against a fresh Bok pack.

Unlike opting for the scrum inside your 22, the opposition gets the feed to the set-piece with this ploy and can backfire with the attack having both sides of the pitch to attack from. Also, Esterhuizen was quite lucky not to be penalised for being in front of the kicker.

Unfortunately for the men in Green and Gold, the ploy did not produce much success as they conceded a free-kick and allowed the Italians to tap and go quickly.

However, there was much more success with the other bit of innovation from Erasmus and his coaching team, with the Springboks deploying a viral schoolboy tactic of forming a lineout in the midfield. The move was perfectly executed on both occasions, with lock Ruan Nortje leaping into the air a phase after a restart.

On both occasions, the Italians conceded a penalty, but with referee Andrew Brace playing advantage, the Springboks capitalised with Williams threading a wonderful pass out to Moodie, who carved through the defence to score. On the second occasion, a maul was formed, and Marx extended his record as the highest-scoring Springboks forward.

Additionally, Esterhuizen deserve massive credit for his performance today as he chopped and changed between loose forward and inside centre, fulfilling both roles to an incredibly high standard. That is just another bit of innovation from the Boks getting the back to moonlight as a forward, which still plays to his strengths with massive abrasiveness and physicality.