The Springboks finally broke their duck on their overseas tour when they produced the couple of moments of individual brilliance that was all that was needed to beat Italy 32-10 at Stadio Friuli in Udine.

It was South Africa’s first win in their fourth match on tour, and should at least go some way towards easing some of the mounting pressure on a team that has been a long way short of the form that propelled them to the country’s third Vodacom Tri-Nations title.

But while the final scoreline was emphatic enough in the Springbok favour, and when some of the more experienced players were introduced in the second half the visitors settled noticeably, it was not the rousing performance that might have been hoped for to erase the memory of the past two weeks.

The Springboks scored four tries, all of them to the backs, and it was a day where the South Africans should have been exceedingly thankful that they had a massive advantage behind the scrum. For the umpteenth time on this tour, the Boks were pummelled in the set-scrums and if the truth were to be told, Italy’s comfort in most aspects of the forward battle should be taken as a loud warning ahead of next week’s big match against Ireland in Dublin.

It was a match where both kickers missed too many attempts at goal, with Morne Steyn producing a most uncharacteristic mistake when he missed an easy kick in the early minutes of the game. But his Italian counterparts Luke McLean and Craig Gower were even worse, missing four penalty attempts between them at crucial times just as Italy were looking to get back into the game.

The Steyn early miss never counted against the Boks, as the South Africans quickly struck with a great try which was fashioned by a break from Ryan Kankowski for Bryan Habana to capitalise on the quick ball that was spread out wide in the sixth minute.

Steyn hit the post with his conversion, but seven minutes later he was able to convert a try scored by man of the match Jaque Fourie, who was on hand to take an inside pass from Habana and go over near the posts.

With the Boks leading 12-0 after almost as many minutes, it looked as though it might be a rout, but up to that point there had yet to be a set-scrum. When the teams did finally scrum down, the Italians were as solid as a house, and completely destroyed the Boks with the second scrum of the match.

This seemed to embolden the Italians, who could have had the Boks under a lot more pressure on the scoreboard had they the backs to capitalise on the possession that came their way. Time and again the Italians would bash away through three, four or even five phases, but the Bok defence was mostly solid and would not allow them to get the momentum across the gainline they needed.

At least that was the case until the 32nd minute, which was when Adi Jacobs slipped out of his channel and Italy’s inside centre Gonzalo Garcia went through untouched from a set move that was clearly scripted to aim at one of the Bok weaknesses. Morne Steyn held his line, but Jacobs didn’t hold his, and the try was all too easy. At 12-7, and the scrum flying backwards, the Boks were in big trouble.

It stayed that way in the initial stages of the second half, but a penalty from Steyn restored the buffer, and Italy missed a few more kicks that would have brought them back in. Italy, for all their huff and puff, lacked belief and finishing ability, and it was the Boks who scored next when Fourie put Habana away on the inside for Fourie du Preez to finish off.

The try came against the run of play, but summed up the match – the Boks had the individual brilliance, Italy didn’t, and no player was better on the day than the two men with Fourie in their names, Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie.

Italy finally succeeded with a kick through Gower in the 59th minute to make it 22-10, but Steyn was on target to take the lead back to 15 before replacement inside centre Wynand Olivier showed his class by finishing off a try that was his first in 26 tests.

With Jacobs struggling so much with his defensive game, and Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll licking his lips about his rematch with the Bok team that beat the British and Irish Lions in mid-year, the smart money should be on Olivier wearing the No 12 at Croke Park.

But the area that should come under most scrutiny in the build-up to the final game of the tour is undeniably the front-row, and here there may have been a timely pointer to the Springbok management as they consider their options.

After struggling all through the game in the scrums, suddenly the Boks got the upper hand in the last quarter hour — and guess what, John Smit was back at hooker when the scrum looked so solid. BJ Botha was also on the field as he got re-acquainted with the tighthead position that was his until his injury in the 2007 World Cup.

Beast Mtawarira also looked a lot more solid when he came on as a replacement, and this must surely be food for thought for the Boks. Are the days of the Smit experiment as a tighthead over? Many South Africans who watched Saturday night’s telecast will hope that they are, for the first hour was the umpteenth time in the season that the Bok scrum had taken a pasting.

Scorers:
Italy – Try: Gonzalo Garcia. Conversion: Craig Gower. Penalty: Gower.
South Africa – Tries: Bryan Habana, Jaque Fourie, Fourie du Preez, Wynand Olivier. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2), Ruan Pienaar. Penalties: Steyn (2).

Source + Pic: sarugby.co.za