Boks look for more bomb from their squad in second Italy Test

Perhaps it was early-season teething problems.

The Springboks got their campaign off to a 42-24 win over Italy at Loftus on Saturday, but they were far from their best as they dished out a performance that left coach Rassie Erasmus not entirely impressed.

In a stop-start game, South Africa struggled to hold on to the ball in their opening Incoming Series Test of the 2025 season and dominate, which gave Italy a sniff in the second half. It is not often you level any kind of accusations at the feared ‘Bomb Squad’, but in front of a packed Loftus the forwards coming off the bench failed to exert themselves as the Azzurri turned up the heat after the break.

There was the usual loud cheer when Bongi Mbonambi, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman and Franco Mostert entered the fray, but they stuttered as the reignited Italian replacement pack gained advantage over their Bok rivals. The momentum did not shift like the Boks are so used to when the ‘Bomb Squad’ made its entry and Erasmus admitted it was frustrating.

“We sent them on because in the first 10 minutes of the first half it was a stop-start game, there were line-outs, a try was disallowed and we didn’t feel the intensity because of those stoppages,” the coach explained.

“We tried to get the intensity and speed up a little bit and I thought Kwagga [Smith] made the difference when he came on. The frustrating part was not [about] dominating but the stop-start nature of the game.

“We didn't have any intensity in the second half. What was frustrating even more was they were able to switch on and off from the break and that is something we didn’t do.”

The Boks led 28-3 after a first half where Italy did a lot of defending and Erasmus was surprised the visiting team came back so strongly after the break.

“They are gusty, their No 9, 10 and loose forwards were brave. I think they made almost 120 tackles by half time and you think they will give in but they turned up the heat in the second half.

“I think we should have scored a few more tries; six is not too bad, but they defended well. The positive from the match is we won and scored six tries even though the maul did not function well, the breakdown was not that great on the attack and counterattack was not awesome.

“With all that, we still managed to score six tries. We must be able to understand what this Italian team put out there with an energetic bunch of young guys and we couldn’t break them.

“There was a stage 10 minutes into the second half where, if the try was allowed, we could have stretched them a little bit. But 42 points is not too bad and everybody expected us to beat them proper. We scored six tries but we are frustrated that we didn’t score more.”

Jesse Kriel, who captained the side in the absence of Siya Kolisi and was among the try-scorers with Morne van den Berg (2), Kurt-Lee Arendse, Vincent Koch and Marco van Staden, said they will improve in the second match in Gqeberha.

“They are a passionate nation, they were energetic and that showed in their play. We didn’t get exactly what we wanted with the ball on attack and in defence,” Kriel said.

“We are not happy with those tries they scored but we got the win and there are a lot of things for us to work on. We have set ourselves high standards as a team and we will get to Gqeberha and work on plans for the second match.”

Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada praised his replacement forwards, which he calls the ‘Grenade Squad’, and was delighted they got the better of their famed South African bench rivals after the break.

“I think we had our grenade squad that did really well. The team that started the second half did really well and then all of the players on the bench brought something in,” he said.

“Even those who were playing their first game for the national team did well. The key thing was discipline and believing more in ourselves.”