PADOVA, Italy – For the Springboks, the build-up to today’s Test against Italy would’ve been dominated by how they need to stop Italy’s juggernaut scrum if they want to extend their 11-match winning streak.
But they will need to be good at all facets of the game at the Stadio Euganeo.
Poor ball retention and a number of handling errors were their main shortcomings in the 29-15 loss to Ireland, but they corrected those issues in the 31-28 triumph over England at Twickenham last week.
But what effectively paved the way for an Ireland victory and allowed England back into the game in the second half were yellow cards conceded by the Boks.
Replacement hooker Adriaan Strauss had to spend 10 minutes in the sinbin in Dublin after taking out Rob Kearney in the air, with the game at 16-10 in favour of the Irish with 13 minutes left.
Last week, Victor Matfield was sent off for collapsing a maul with the Boks leading 20-6 five minutes after half-time. England replied with two tries in three minutes to level the score at 20-20.
Avoiding such censure will be critical against the Italians, as an expected 34000 capacity crowd will spur on the home side this afternoon.
And having a French referee – this time it’s Jérôme Garcès – in charge doesn’t help, either. The Boks have won two out of the three Tests when Garcès was in charge, but the most recent one ended in a defeat to the All Blacks in Wellington.
“I think our discipline is important,” said Bok captain Jean de Villiers yesterday.
“Getting yellow cards in the previous two weeks put us in tough situations, and even though I do think that we are pretty good with what the referee wants and adapting to him, I still feel that there are still those one or two situations that could cost you a game. And we just need to sharpen up on that.”
Despite the Boks being expected to dispatch the Italians easily, the forgettable night in Dublin still seems to be haunting them. That is why coach Heyneke Meyer didn’t make wholesale changes to the team, and which is why De Villiers said yesterday that it hadn’t been difficult to keep the players motivated for today’s encounter.
“The main message throughout the week has been that we need to pitch up mentally. The big difference between the Ireland and England game was exactly that – the mental preparation and just the focus going into the game. We are aware of that, and we need to get that right,” the 33-year-old said.
De Villiers has made some big captaincy calls so far on tour, with his decision to eschew kickable penalties against Ireland probably contributing to the defeat in the end. But at the same time, his courageous call to opt for touch once more against England resulted in a maul try to Schalk Burger, with Meyer stating that it “probably won us the game”. - Saturday Star