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The Boks now have their backs against the wall, having lost 3 matches in a row on their ill-fated end-of-year tour.
Will the ever-improving Italy, with their strong scrum and never-say-die Italy, be able to score their first-ever victory over the Boks?
Or will John and the boys overcome the wiley Nick Mallett and his azure brigade to finally get the tour back on track?
Kick-off in Udine is at 16h00 SA Time.
Teams
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Simon Piccone, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Gonzalo Canale
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (captain), 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Tendai Mtawarira, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Victor Matfield, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: James Jones (Wales), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Morne Steyn is quite frankly looking awful
Score anyone??
@Miguel (Comment 1) : pathetic!
the italian try was clear obstruction. 13 took steyn out
Idiot Naas Botha wants to blame Adi for the Italy try.
He doesn’t mention Morne Steyn’s poor goalkicking and him kicking all our posession away though!
Scrum was pathetic until…..wait for it……BJ,John,Beast…..WOW!!!!
PdV & BG …now you know what your front row is for Ireland!
Kanko…did well tonight
@mbayshark (Comment 5) : Did you realy expect anything else
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 7) : Exactly..because BJ is a quality tighthead (our best) and John Smit is a hooker and NOT a tighthead.
Made such a difference with this frontrow!
@Me2 aka Mama Shark (Comment 8) : Agreed, don’t know why they subbed him and not Danie Rossouw with Deysel
The Italian try was not legal because of the obstructive line being ran by the 13 that have taken out Morne Steyn
But who else to blame then Adi Jacobs, looking for somebody to blame, blame Jacobs
b4 the game i had a feeling the boks would lose this game, with that in mind, im quite pleased with the result
@Charlie (Comment 12) : spotted that one too. But it’s easier to blame Adi Jacobs! Come on, join in
My opinion is Adi is not a 12, he has always been a superb backline utility player from 10 to 14, but I just don’t see him as a starting 12. My opinion is that Fourie would make a better 12, a little more physical presence, can take up the crash ball if needed. I just think Adi is a better player in space. Just my opinion. Adi certainly deserves no blame for anything in this game.
So how badly does Steyn have to play for Ruan to get another chance? Steyn has been terrible on this tour.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 16) :
Hey DB. Howzit boet??
Adi is more creative than any other centre in the squad and I think PDV wants him in side to create copportunities for his outside backs.
Wynand Olivier is not as creative and he often tries to attack the line and hardly ever passes to his outside backs.
I really don’t get why people rate him.
According to Voldy Adi and John were the worst performers against Italy.
Why am i not surprised??
3. John Smit (4)
Was outscrummed badly on four occasions (he popped out twice) and was mercifully moved to hooker when BJ Botha came on in the second half.
12. Adi Jacobs (4)
Got over the advantage line a couple of times early on, but was embarrassed on defence when Sergio Parisse ran straight over him. His failure to hold his line also resulted in Italy’s try and he threw a poor pass behind Fourie that allowed Italy to get back inside Bok territory.
@wpw (Comment 18) :
@wpw (Comment 18) :
This is beyond bias…it’s an unhealthy obsession…
@blackshark (Comment 20) : look, Adi wasn’t great on the day, but still… these guys are like a pack of rabid fricking dogs at the moment.
@robdylan (Comment 21) : Agree, they just don’t like Jacobs IMO
@wpw (Comment 17) : Howzit Wes….I didn’t say in my post I want Adi out of the team, I said I prefer him at 13, he still has the opportunity to use his skills to set his wings and FB away, and he is more elusive than Fourie which is, in my opinion more suited to 13 where there is more space to work with. I thought Fourie should be at 12, he has more size and is more secure with ball in hand, hence a better crash baller. Not slating Adi in any way, and notice I didn’t mention Olivier in any of my post, it was you that brought him up.