The Springboks are set to field a new-look side in this Saturday’s highly-anticipated season-ending Test against England at Twickenham. Photo: SA Rugby website
Springboks captain Siya Kolisi says the team’s focus hasn’t changed during a week where Rassie Erasmus received another ban.
The Springboks are set to field a new-look side in this Saturday’s highly-anticipated season-ending Test against England at Twickenham. Photo: SA Rugby website
After back-to-back defeats on the end-of-year tour, the Springboks will be desperate to claim a comfortable victory over Italy on Saturday, and ease some of the pressure that has been building on the team.
Besides a disappointing start to the tour for the Springboks and South Africa ‘A’, there have also been lots of off-field headlines around flyhalf Elton Jantjies, team dietician Zeenat Simjee, and of course Rassie Erasmus.
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On Thursday, it was confirmed that World Rugby has issued Erasmus with a ban on all match-day activities for two games as a result of recent social media posts. As a result, he may not take part in any match-day activity in relation to the two upcoming Tests against Italy, and England on 26 November, 2022.
Despite this possible distraction, Siya Kolisi spoke to the media on Friday, and refused to be drawn into any controversial comments about Erasmus. Instead, he simply reiterated that his team will be playing for all South Africans when they meet the Azzurri at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday afternoon.
The Boks suffered narrow defeats against the two top-ranked teams in the world, Ireland and France, in the last two games, and Kolisi said his charges were determined to change their fortunes.
“We come off two tough games, which we lost,” said Kolisi.
“Our focus is completely on playing Italy. It’s a big game for us. We don’t want to go three games without a win. So we’ll show Italy the respect they deserve. We saw how they played in the last two games, so know what they can do.
“We’ll be playing for South Africa, for the people back at home. Playing to win the game is all that is on our minds right now. The most important thing is to make sure that we stand up because Italy is a very good team.”
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Italy
15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Substitutes: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Edoardo Padovani, 23 Tommaso Menoncello
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Damian de Allende, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Evan Roos, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok
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Played 15; Won 14; Lost 1; Points for: 701, Points against: 174; Tries scored 96, Tries conceded 14; Highest score 101-0; Biggest win 101 points. Win % 93%.
Milestones:
Miscellaneous: