Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
Castle Lager Tour
South Africa v Italy
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Gqeberha, South Africa
Saturday, 12 July 2025
Kick-off is at 17h10
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus will hope to address the ‘fixable’ issues he noted in his side’s first clash against Italy when the two nations meet in Gqeberha for the second
Castle Lager Tour Test this weekend.
Following a hard-fought 42-24 victory against the Azzurri at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday, Erasmus hinted at ripping up his initial study notes for the game in the Eastern Cape.
Despite scoring six tries across the 80 minutes, it was the Italians' resilience and defensive unity that ultimately got the attention of Erasmus and his technical staff.
While South Africa led 28-3 at the break, Italy managed to accumulate 21 points against the reigning back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions in the second-half, an element that Erasmus refused to brush aside.
Reflecting on his plans for the second test, Erasmus expressed that he intends on selecting a side that he feels will endure another tough outing.
“Internally we’ve announced that 13, 14 players that will definitely get a run next week, and that we’d build the bench or starting line-up around those guys,” Erasmus said.
“We won’t discard those guys but some of them might move to the bench, some of the real standout players who played today might start again.
“The make-up of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us. You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half.
“But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate and we have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.
“We knew they would man up, and they certainly manned up in most departments; scrums, mauling, defence, attack – it was a proper Test match.”
In turn, Italy boss Gonzalo Quesada thus expects South Africa to turn it up a notch when they take to the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“We know their level will rise significantly,” Quesada said.
"They’re not happy with this game and will want to improve. But we also have room to grow and will take confidence from this.”
Head-to-Head:
Matches - 17
South Africa wins - 16
Italy wins - 1
Draws – 0
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