Preview: South Africa vs. Italy - prediction, team news, lineups

Italy will be hoping to avoid a series sweep this weekend when they arrive at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha to take on South Africa on Saturday afternoon. 

The world champions continued their winning start to their summer Test campaign, beating the Azzurri 42-24 in front of a packed house at the iconic Loftus Versfeld last weekend. 

Match preview

Following a commanding win against the Barbarians a couple of weeks ago, South Africa delivered a strong first-half display to defeat Italy last weekend, securing their second consecutive victory in the ongoing mid-year series.

Stand-in skipper Jesse Kriel set the tone with an early try in the 11th minute, followed by scrum-half Morne van den Berg, who was making just his third international appearance, crossing the line twice.

After halftime, Vincent Koch powered over for the Springboks, but the visitors rallied fiercely and were prevented from scoring by a brilliant try-saving tackle from Kurt-Lee Arendse on Simone Gesi.

The final score did not fully reflect the contest, though, as the second-string Italians matched the Springboks physically and controlled the breakdown, while the Boks’ usually explosive Bomb Squad for once failed to detonate. 

Still, South Africa have now been top of the rankings since overtaking Ireland in mid-November last year, and barring a loss to Italy this weekend, they are guaranteed to retain the number one spot in the world rugby rankings for at least another week, though New Zealand are breathing down their necks.

Meanwhile, trailing 28-3 at halftime, Italy could have faced a heavy defeat last weekend, but this young squad, despite missing several key players, displayed impressive resilience to mount a strong fightback, giving their coaches plenty to be proud of.

The standout performer for the Azzurri was Manuel Zuliani, who, for 50 minutes, was nothing short of superb, producing multiple key turnovers, relentless tackling, and a try that sparked hope for his team in the second half.

Benetton followers would not have been surprised by Zuliani's performance last week, given how well he has been playing recently, but the flanker’s standout performance effectively contained the Springboks and stopped the world champions from running up an even bigger scoreline.

Pablo Dimcheff and Niccolo Cannone also got over the try line as the visitors showed great determination in the second half, and although they did not get the result, they definitely gave Rassie Erasmus and his team plenty to consider ahead of this weekend. 

South Africa form (all competitions): LWWWWW

Italy form (all competitions): WLLLWL

Team News

Erasmus has made sweeping changes to his matchday 23 for the second Test match against Italy, with Willie Le Roux set to become the eighth South African to reach 100 caps for the Springboks. 

Seven players will face the Azzurri for a second consecutive week, including Le Roux, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Marco van Staden and Jasper Wiese all start, while Ox Nche and Jan-Hendrik Wessels are set to come off the bench.

Andre Esterhuizen partners Canan Moodie in the midfield, with the revamped backline rounded out by half-backs Manie Libbok and Grant Williams, who is returning from an injury that sidelined him during the latter stages of the Sharks’ season.

Fullback Mirko Belloni is set to make his first start for Italy as part of five changes to their lineup for the second test, while number eight Lorenzo Cannone has been ruled out due to a back injury.

Belloni joins wings Jacopo Trulla and Louis Lynagh to form the back three, with Marco Zanon and Tommaso Menoncello partnering in the centres, while Giacomo Da Re remains at fly-half alongside scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi.

Hooker Tommaso Di Bartolomeo anchors the front row alongside props Danilo Fischetti and Simone Ferrari, with captain Niccolo Cannone teaming up with Andrea Zambonin in the second row.

South Africa starting lineup: 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 (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Thomas du Toit

Replacements: 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

Italy starting lineup: 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 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti

Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 David Odiase, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

© PA Photos

We say: South Africa 47-18 Italy

South Africa were far from their best in Pretoria last week, and Erasmus will be demanding major improvement from his side when they step out in Gqeberha. Italy showed plenty of fight in the first Test, but we are expecting the Boks to turn it up a notch in this one. 

Written by
Devesh Jaganath

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