LIVE SCORING : Springboks vs Italy in Turin

The Springboks arrive in Europe with plenty of confidence. They enjoyed a perfect opening Southern Series in July, overcoming England, Scotland and Wales, before taking on New Zealand in the blockbuster Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series. 

South Africa ultimately claimed that series 3-1, reinforcing their credentials as one of the teams to beat in the new competition.

There have been a few twists since then, including a narrow defeat to Australia in Perth, but the world champions remain a formidable proposition and will be determined to make their presence felt as they head north.

Their opening assignment, though, should not be taken lightly. Italy have shown that they are capable of making life uncomfortable for established rugby powers, and playing in front of their home supporters in Turin will give the Azzurri added motivation to produce a statement performance.

South Africa will be without several familiar faces, including the injured Eben Etzebeth and Cheslin Kolbe, but Erasmus has nevertheless selected an experienced matchday 23, underlining the importance of getting their end-of-year campaign off to a winning start.

Kick off is at 13:40.

SPRINGBOKS’ LIVE SCORING

MATCH INFORMATION

Teams

Italy: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Paolo Odogwu, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Samuele Locatelli, 6 Alessandro Ortombina, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera (captain), 1 Muhamed Hasa.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Enoch Opoku Gyamfi, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Tommaso Allan.

South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: James Doleman (New Zealand), Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

Springbok record against Italy: Played 19; Won 18; Lost 1; Points for: 883, Points against: 233; Tries scored 117, Tries conceded 21; Highest score 101-0; Biggest win 101 points. Win % 94,7%.

Miscellaneous:

• The Springboks have faced Italy 18 times and won 17 of those matches. Their only defeat was in Florence in 2016, where Italy pipped the Boks by 20-18.
• This will mark the second time the teams face one another in Turin – their first outing in the city was last year, when the Springboks won 32-14.
• Jesse Kriel requires only five more Test caps following this encounter to reach the significant milestone of earning 100 Test appearances.
• 2025 World Rugby and SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, Malcolm Marx, needs to play only five more Tests to join the exclusive 100s club.
• Salmaan Moerat will play his first Test of the season in the Bok jersey after recovering from the injuries that sidelined him for the team’s previous Test matches.
• The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 835.
• There are 357 caps in the backline, with 478 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 208 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 51, the forwards 60, while the players on the bench average 26.