Clinical Springboks put Italy to the sword in Turin

A near-perfect first-half performance from South Africa paved the way for a resounding Nations Championship victory over Italy in Turin on Saturday.

The Springboks scored 45 unanswered points in the opening 40 minutes, before a somewhat messy second stanza saw them run out 66-7 winners.

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Retained top spot

In doing so, the Springboks remained top of the Southern Hemisphere standings, and also kept their No 1 World Rugby ranking.

The Springboks scored nine tries through hooker Malcolm Marx (2), flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, flank Siya Kolisi, fullback Damian Willemse, wing Ethan Hooker and replacements, front-rower Wilco Louw and loose forward Paul de Villiers.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu added all nine conversions as well as a penalty for a personal haul of 26 points.

Italy replied with a try by lock Federico Ruzza and a conversion by replacement back Tommaso Allan.

The victory was South Africa’s 19th in 20 Tests against Italy. Their lone defeat came in 2016 in Florence.

The Springboks will next face France at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday, 13 November at 22:10 (SA time).

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 Lood de Jager, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Franco Mostert, 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)

South Africa vs Italy results

Date	Result	Venue
12 Nov 1995	Won 40-21	Olympic Stadium, Rome
8 Nov 1997	Won 62-31	Dall’Ara Stadium, Bologna
12 June 1999	Won 74-3	Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth
19 June 1999	Won 101-0	Kings Park, Durban
30 June 2001	Won 60-14	Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth
17 Nov 2001	Won 54-26	Luigi Ferraris Stadium, Genoa
21 June 2008	Won 26-0	Newlands, Cape Town
21 Nov 2009	Won 32-10	Stadio Friuli, Udine
19 June 2010	Won 29-13	Puma Stadium, Witbank
26 June 2010	Won 55-11	Basil Kenyon Stadium, East London
8 June 2013	Won: 44-10	Kings Park, Durban
22 Nov 2014	Won 22-6	Stadio Euganeo, Padua
19 Nov 2016	Lost 20-18	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence
25 Nov 2017	Won 35-6	Stadio Euganeo, Padua
4 Oct 2019	Won 49-3	Shizuoka Stadium, Fukuroi
19 Nov 2022	Won 63-21	Luigi Ferraris Stadium, Genoa
5 July 2025	Won 42-24	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
12 July 2025	Won 45-0	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
15 Nov 2025	Won 32-14	Juventus Stadium, Turin
7 Nov 2026	Won 59-7	Allianz Stadium, Turin