Springboks ‘score was too big’ as Italy coach weighs in on Jesse Kriel’s controversial try

Italy’s head coach Gonzalo Quesada believes that the scoreline was not a fair reflection of his team’s performance against the Springboks.

The Azzurri were staring down a hammering defeat after the opening 40 minutes of action as they trailed South Africa 28-5 at the break.

Italy rallied in the second half, scoring three tries to the Springboks‘ two, with the inexperienced squad really impressive at altitude despite the 42-24 final scoreline.

Half-time talk

Quesada praised the efforts of his coaching team, who provided feedback to players at the break to inspire a much-improved performance, as well as the leaders in the team who helped implement the changes.

“I think we did a good job with our feedback and analysis of the first half on the fact that all the possession was with the Springboks, but there were two easy set-piece tries from them, individual mistakes that come from a bit of stress, some bad handling of the situation,” he said.

However, he still feels that the scoreboard was bloated and wasn’t helped by Jesse Kriel’s controversial try in the 10th minute of the match.

Kriel dived onto a deft kick in behind by his centre partner Damian de Allende. The try was reviewed by referee Hollie Davidson and her officiating team, but it was deemed that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to rule out the score for offside.

“To be honest, I don’t think the first try by Jesse [should have stood], he is in front of the kicker so it’s not a try either,” he added.

“So I think that score was too big.”

Improved discipline

On the improvement in the second half, he continued: “The key thing was discipline and believing more in ourselves.

Especially with the ball, I felt like we lacked belief in ourselves and weren’t trying enough and not respecting the things we prepared. So we try to create more belief and let them know that they can do much better and hold that intensity.