June Internationals: South Africa v Italy (08/06/2013)

[TRF_heineken]

Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban (08/06/2013)

​

 

[Big Ewis]

wow, that thread really worked out alright with the pics !...

Should be a very interesting matchup, and I have a feeling this will be tighter than ppl expect...then again, SA may very well put a big 40 on Italy....

 

[SomeOke]

wow, that thread really worked right with the pics !...

Should be a very interesting matchup, and I have a feeling this will be tighter than ppl expect...then again, SA may very well put a big 40 on Italy....

On a completely unrelated note SA by 41 points.

In all seriousness though I think it'll be comfortable but not decisive Italy aren't really the kind of team you kick around like a stray dog anymore. 10-15 points?

 

[Big Ewis]

From the planetrugby preview article:

"I tried to convince a South African colleague early this week that Italy are capable of ruffling a lot of feathers and should not be underestimated considering their victories over France and Ireland earlier this year. But his response was categorical: "it's Italy! Losing to Italy will never be acceptable for South Africa, no matter how much they have progressed." "

 

[SomeOke]

From the planetrugby preview article:

"I tried to convince a South African colleague early this week that Italy are capable of ruffling a lot of feathers and should not be underestimated considering their victories over France and Ireland earlier this year. But his response was categorical: "it's Italy! Losing to Italy will never be acceptable for South Africa, no matter how much they have progressed." "

Losing to anyone but NZ at home is a bitter disappointment. If we lost to Italy I might just drink myself into a coma.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Willem Alberts has been ruled out due to a stomach pain. Arno Botha will start with Marcell Coetzee coming in to the bench

 

[Sker]

I expect us to win by 15-20.

Tries by: Willie le Roux, Adriaan Strauss and Habana
With a bunch of penalties by Morne.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I expect us to win by 15-20.

Tries by: Willie le Roux, Adriaan Strauss and Habana
With a bunch of penalties by Morne.

I think we'll win by more than that. Purely because we want to send out a statement, and I expect that Italy will feel our wrath.

Our mauls will do most of the damage, with a flanker scoring a double and probably Jano also sniping blindside.

 

[Big Ewis]

Losing to anyone but NZ at home is a bitter disappointment. If we lost to Italy I might just drink myself into a coma.

lucky you !...we've got plenty of teams who win on our soil !!! :lol:

But I'm still a bit hopeful (as a supporter of Italy) that they may bring some of that new form they had this past 6N...

 

[Peat]

So I looked up the Saffa team and a fair few names I don't recognise... any talk us ignorant northerners through the new guys?

 

[SomeOke]

So I looked up the Saffa team and a fair few names I don't recognise... any talk us ignorant northerners through the new guys?

Oh no I have to talk about the team... Well it's a lousy job but someone has to do it .

1. Beast
2. Adriaan Strauss (vc)
3. Jannie Du Plessis
4. Eben Etzebeth
5. Juandre Kruger
6. Francois Louw
7. Arno Botha
8. Pierre Spies

9. Jano Vermaak
10. Morne Steyn
11. Bjorn Basson
12. Jean De Villiers (c)
13. JJ Engelbrecht
14. Bryan Habana
15. Willie Le Roux

16. Chilliboy Ralepelle
17. Trevor Nyakane
18. Coenie Oosthuizen
19. Flip van der merwe
20. Marcel Coetze
21. Ruan Pienaar
22. Pat Lambie
23. Jan Serfontein

7 - 21 Year old loose forward from the bulls, bruising carrier of the ball and probably the form loose forward of the South African Super rugby teams, can play 7 or 8 good enough that noone is surprised of his inclusion in fact a lot of Bulls fans have been calling for him to replace Spies for a while now.

9 - SA has a bit of a scrumhalf problem at the moment, after Fourie du Preez left, Hougard never really displayed the growth we were hoping for. This guy is a fairly decent option, nice pass and the ability to snipe. Has a lot of potential but hasn't really blown anyone away yet. Perhaps lucky to be in the side due to our lack of options at 9 at the moment.

13 - Big, quick, steps well and runs good lines. He's been on the fringe of things for a while now, showing his occasional brilliance but really coming into his own this season at the bulls outside of Jan Serfontein. One half of our solution to the end of the Jacque Fourie/Jean de Villiers era, and probably the first outside centre who looks like he could fill Jacque Fourie's shoes.

15. - The most flair you will ever see in a South Africa jersey, plays for an invigorated Cheetahs team at wing but hops in the fly-half, centre, fullback or whichever channel he pleases to instigate shenanigans. Great at chip kicks, breaking the line and setting up players, he's probably responsible for half of all the tries the Cheetahs scored this season, creative player who makes tries and a public favourite. Still has to be seen whether his particular brand of flair will fit in the Springbok set-up as it tends to be require a looseness which you don't typically see in the Springboks.

17 - Eh.. A decent loosehead. Haven't really payed enough attention to his scrummaging or tight abillity but I know he's a good ball carrier.

23 - The other half of chemotherapy that's going to fix our centre problems, whereas JJ Engelbrecht is 24 and has been on the fringes but not quite "there" for a while now. This kid played for (and was either the player of the tournament, or nominated as player of the tournament I forget) the side that won the Junior World Championships in 2012 and was incredible enough to turn heads back then. Since then he's been amazing for the Bulls with his phenomenal carrying ability - at 20 years old no one in the country is arguing his selection.



In summary SA is excited because the spine of our great team in the 2007-2009 era left in terms of Victor Matfield and Bakkies at Lock, Jacque Fourie (and Jean probably soon as well) and Fourie du Preez as well as a few others who were slightly more replaceable.

Last year we were in an awkward stage where people felt not only did we not have players to replace these stalwarts that were of a similar quality but weren't even long term solutions.

With JJ Engelbrecht and Jan Serfontein we finally have players young enough and good enough to replace our old incumbents
and with Eben Etzebeth and Pieter Steph-du Toit (another young lock, who's just as young, good and huge as Eben) we finally see hope in that department.

Basically the team is starting to rebuild itself in a sustainable way. We still have problems (Scrumhalf, Flyhalf?, Fullback (unless Willie proves good enough)) but things are looking up. Of course we are getting way ahead of ourselves and most of these players are not proven at international level but if we don't work ourselves up into a rabid frenzy of anticipation, it won't be funny to the rest of the world when it doesn't work out, and no one wants that .

 

[Sker]

Pretty decent post that


Hein, as the game comes closer I want to say we'll win by 40 with a ton of tries. Getting excited now!

 

[kusta]

Aaagh Matthew Pierce and Bob Skinstad commentary the most boring ever:zzz: Wish it was Hugh Bladen and Joel Stransky instead!!! This is when i wish i was rather watchin this game at a Pub!!!

 

[kusta]

Frans Louw lucky there he was not even supporting his own body weight...SH ref wouldve penalised him.

 

[Big Ewis]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaalrightyyyy thennnnnnnn-ahhhh !!!
let's go....

Come on Italy, start the game with two straight huge tries to knock them Boks the fk out....

 

[SelimNiai]

Decent so far, no I think of it this is a fixture that doesn't happen very much (I may be wrong though)

 

[Big Ewis]

oh boy....ok, so it's THAT Italy side today...

 

[Tony Manx]

Is Furno playing with Bortolami in the second row....did not see the starting teams?

 

[dasNdanger]

Drat. I was getting the match and suddenly it went dead, and the DirecTV logo came on. I wonder if they're blocking it now.


das

 

[Big Ewis]

Is Furno playing with Bortolami in the second row....did not see the starting teams?

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[TD]Andrea Masi[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]RW[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]Giovanbattista Venditti[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]OC[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]Luca Morisi[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]IC[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]Alberto Sgarbi[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LW[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]Luke McLean[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]FH[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]Alberto Di Bernardo[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]SH[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]Edoardo Gori[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]N8[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]Sergio Parisse (c)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]OF[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Robert Barbieri[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]BF[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]Alessandro Zanni[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]RL[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Marco Bortolami[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LL[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Antonio Pavanello[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TP[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Lorenzo Cittadini[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]HK[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Leonardo Ghiraldini[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LP[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Alberto de Marchi[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 3"]Replacements:[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]HK[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]Davide Giazzon[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]PR[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]Matías Agüero[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]PR[/TD]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]Martin Castrogiovanni[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LK[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]Valerio Bernabo[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LK[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]Joshua Furno[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]SH[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]Tobias Botes[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]FH[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]Luciano Orquera[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]WG[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]Tommaso Iannone[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]