The Springboks will be targeting a far more convincing performance in the second Test against Italy at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which will mark a special occasion for several players.
Primarily in terms of individual milestones, it will be a momentous occasion for Willie le Roux as he becomes the eighth Springbok player to earn 100 Test caps.
Meanwhile, there will be Test debuts for Asenathi Ntlabakanye (prop), Cobus Wiese (utility forward) and Ethan Hooker (utility back), who have all been named among the ‘bomb squad’.
Saturday’s Test against Italy kicks off at 17:10 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport and SABC.
ALL THE MATCH INFORMATION FOR THE SPRINGBOKS V ITALY:
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker.
Italy: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Jacopo Trulla, 10 Giacomo De Re, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manual Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone (captain), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 David Odiase, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Giulio Bertaccini.
South Africa vs Italy at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha – 17:10
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (RFU), Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Television Match Official: Tual Trainini (FFR)
Split Screen: Andrew Jackson (RFU)
Springbok record against Italy:
Played 17; Won 16; Lost 1; Points for: 806, Points against: 219; Tries scored 108, Tries conceded 19; Highest score 101-0; Biggest win 101 points. Win % 94%.
Miscellaneous:
- Willie le Roux will become only the eighth player in history to play 100 Tests for South Africa, following in the footsteps of Eben Etzebeth, Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana, Tendai Mtwawarira, John Smit, Jean de Villiers, and Percy Montgomery.
- Le Roux made his debut against Italy on 8 June 2013 and will celebrate his 100th Test cap against the same opponents 12 years later.
- Makazole Mapimpi will play his 47th Test match on Saturday, and requires only three more Test caps to join the elite group of players who have played 50 Tests.
- Manie Libbok requires only two more points to score 100 Test points in the green and gold. He is currently on 98 points.
- The Springboks have faced Italy 17 times and won 16 of those matches. Their only defeat was in Florence in 2016, where Italy pipped the Boks by 20-18.
- The Wiese brothers (Cobus and Jasper) will become the 37th set of brothers to play for the Springboks.
- The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 493.
- There are 213 caps in the backline, with 280 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 98 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 30, the forwards 35, while the players on the bench average 12.
How excited are you for this Saturday’s rematch?
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