Italy boss accuses Springboks of ‘disrespect’ over tactical innovation that left him ‘really surprised’
Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada has claimed the Springboks’ much-discussed kick-off routine was in stark contrast to their own “respectful” attitude during this series.
South Africa surprised everybody by beginning the match on Saturday by kicking the ball straight into the hands of Andre Esterhuizen, who was in an offside position.
The Boks therefore infringed at least two laws, with the ball also not going 10 metres, but that was their intention as they wanted to set up for a scrum.
Even though it was Italy’s set-piece, the hosts dominated up front last weekend and felt they could once again target the Azzurri in that area.
Italy not impressed
It divided opinion with some praising Rassie Erasmus’ ingenuity while others thought it was gamesmanship and disrespectful to their opponents.
Quesada certainly thought it was the latter despite initially not wanting to be drawn on the matter.
“Concerning the first action, I prefer not to make any comments because I was really surprised,” the Italy boss stated before explaining his dissatisfaction. “I didn’t take it very well, they can beat us without needing to do this kind of tactic.
“These last couple of weeks, we’ve been extremely respectful, coming here with a lot of humility – the land of the world champions and deserved double world champions.
It’s a land of rugby, a land where we get inspired. I came here for the first time in 1994 and then 1996, 1997, 1998 with my club, and so many times with the national team and coaching. I love coming to South Africa.
“We know that when they prepared this game, they decided to dominate us and show us why they are the first team in the world.
But I was surprised because I don’t know if it was something we did or said that created that first moment. They didn’t need to do that to beat us.”
Springboks ‘lineout’ innovation
Quesada had a very different opinion of the Springboks’ other innovation from Saturday’s game, which saw them throw the ball to a player who had been lifted in the air, akin to what happens at a lineout.
They always have some tricky, nice strikes from lineouts in that zone and we’ve been preparing for it. In that zone, there’s always something a bit special, different or innovative to surprise the opposition,” he added.
They tried this maul from second phase. It’s a good idea because you have to react super quickly to sack it directly because as soon as the maul is formed and you take it down, you are collapsing the maul.
“I think they wanted to maul us all the way to the in-goal but we were penalised. I think it’s just part of the really good work they do to always be one step in front of the other teams.
“It’s innovation and good ideas, and I think they have the players for it. There’s a lot of people in the staff who are thinking and preparing the games, and they have an amazing quality of player.”
