‘Heroic’ Italy stun Springboks in Florence

Giovanbattista Venditti scored a crucial second-half try as “historic” Italy bounced back from an All Blacks mauling to score a first, 20-18 win over embattled South Africa on Saturday.
Bryan Habana, winning his 124th cap for the Springboks, gave Allister Coetzee’s men an early boost with an eighth-minute try that took his test total to 67.
But Italy, now under Irish coach Conor O’Shea, were on a mission to play creative rugby and did so while repelling several promising South African attacks during an entertaining, and at times bruising game in Florence.
Although full of praise for his “heroic” players, ex-Harlequins boss O’Shea was quick to calm hopes of an Italian renaissance in Florence.
“I’m very happy for the players and the fans, but this is only the start for us,” said O’Shea, who succeeded Frenchman Jacques Brunel in July.
“We have a lot to do to change rugby in Italy, but we have the capability, talent and potential to do it.
“Today, we made a lot of mistakes and we had some problems with discipline. But the sheer heart and courage … they weren’t just brave, they were just heroic.”
It is South Africa’s first defeat to Italy in 13 matches and left Coetzee under huge pressure ahead of their final November Test against Wales next week.
In the immediate aftermath, SA Rugby issued a damning indictment of the state of their game in a statement.
Coetzee cut a grief-stricken figure as he talked to media and said: “It’s not good enough losing to Japan, or Italy.”
It made reference to the Boks’ historic defeat to Japan at the World Cup in England last year.
While praising the Azzurri defence, he lamented the Boks’ inability to put back-to-back points on the board.
He added: “No disrespect to Italy, they deserved their victory today. They tackled and tackled… and credit to their defence, they didn’t just have shape, they were physical as well.
“We showed a lack of confidence, a lack of self-belief. We want to look at the game again.
“There were so many options open to score, but… no excuse. They just executed better on the day.”
Coetzee rightly pinpointed Italy’s defence as the key but his decision to recall Habana paid dividends almost immediately when he touched over after full-back Willie Le Roux’s powerful run.
Patrick Lambie missed the conversion from wide on the left just inside the 22.
Italian heads went down quickly in Rome last week when the All Blacks scored the first of 10 tries inside five minutes, but the Azzurri had been given hope by the Boks’ recent crisis.
From the restart, they won a penalty, kicked deep into territory and from a driving maul pushed Bloemfontein-born Andries Van Schalkwyk over for a try.
Carlo Canna hit the conversion to give the hosts a 7-5 lead on 13 mins.
Some dogged Bok attacking failed to produce the points, until a succession of passes out to the right flank found Damian de Allende in space and he powered to their second try.
This time Lambie found a way through the posts and South Africa were ahead.
When Vincent Koch penalised from angling in at a scrum, Edoardo Padovani hit a 50-metre penalty to take the score to 12-10 at half-time.
South Africa started the second period in determined fashion and were given a boost when Marco Fuser was shown a yellow card for a tip tackle on De Jaeger.
Play continued and after Combrinck missed an inside pass from Habana with the tryline begging, Lambie kicked the penalty to push their lead to 15-10.
But several missed chances for a third try left the Boks exposed and they were caught out spectacularly on 55 minutes when the ball was fed out to the left and Venditti went over in the corner.
Canna hit a crucial conversion for a 17-15 lead to revive thoughts of the Boks’ historic defeat by Japan at the 2015 World Cup in England.
A late penalty from replacement Jantjies took the score to 17-18.
But De Jaeger failed to roll away at a ruck, and Canna hit the penalty to take Italy’s lead to a triumphant 20-18.
“I’d say it’s the darkest moment of my coaching career,” said Coetzee.