Italy v Springboks: Winners and losers as world champions’ Bomb squad ‘saves the day’ while match officials get red card decision wrong
Springboks replacement Andre Esteruizen on the charge against Italy and referee James Doleman issues a red card to Franco Mostert (inset).
Following the Springboks’ 32-14 triumph over Italy in their Autumn Nations Series Test, here are our winners and losers from Saturday’s encounter at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
Winners
Damian Willemse
After missing the Springboks‘ opening Autumn Nations Series clash against Japan due to a hamstring niggle, the 27-year-old made his return to action against France last weekend but looked a little undercooked and was replaced after 57 minutes of that clash. However, it was a totally different performance against Italy as Willemse caught the eye with an outstanding all-round performance for the full 80 minutes.
He was solid under the high ball and gave the world champions valuable momentum when he joined the line from the back and also impressed on defence as he put in some big hits in that department. After the match, his efforts were rewarded when he walked off with the official man-of-the-match award.
Springboks bench
For the second successive week the Boks had to play most of the match with 14 players after Franco Mostert received a permanent red card as early as the 12th minute for a dangerous tackle on Paolo Garbisi. That led to a plethora of changes within a short space of time with Ben-Jason Dixon, Zachary Porthen, Boan Venter and Edwill van der Merwe all replaced before the half-hour mark with Ruan Nortje, Wilco Louw, Gerhard Steenekamp and Andre Esterhuizen coming on to replace them respectively.
And just like the clash against France, Nortje and Esterhuizen were at the forefront of the Boks’ response while Louw and Steenekamp were not far behind with their efforts as the much vaunted Bomb Squad saved the day once again. However, the rest of the Boks’ bench also impressed with Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Manie Libbok and Grant Williams also making positive impacts when they entered the fray, and their contributions helped their side clinch a deserved victory.
Ethan Hooker
The Springboks sprung a surprise when they named the Sharks star at inside centre after he made all his previous international appearances on the wing this year. However, Hooker showed his utility value in this encounter as he also spent time on the wing and packed down on the flank for some of the scrums due to the Boks being a man down at the set-piece with Esterhuizen slotting into the midfield role on attack.
Regardless of the position which he was playing, Hooker grew stronger as the match progressed and in the game’s closing stages he gathered an inch perfect cross-field kick from Libbok before crossing for his first Test try which also sealed his side’s triumph.
Canan Moodie
Named alongside Hooker to form an inexperienced Springboks midfield combination, Moodie handled the pressure well after the world champions were reduced to 14 men. Despite that setback, Moodie rose to the challenge as he combined well with Hooker in midfield with the outside centre doing well to marshal his side’s defence.
Apart from impressing in the execution of his defensive duties, Moodie also showed his class on attack and in the 72nd minute he did brilliantly to beat Louis Lynagh with quick feet before throwing an inside pass to Williams, who crossed for a crucial five-pointer.
Juan Ignacio Brex
Although the Azzurri lost this match, their captain, who was in the leadership role for only the second time, was one of their standout performers as he delivered an outstanding all-round performance throughout. Brex showed some deft touches on attack, which kept the Springboks defenders on their toes, while he also came to the fore with a high work-rate on defence.
His captaincy started on a bright note with a victory over the Wallabies in Udine last weekend and despite the result not going Italy’s way against the Boks, Brex led by example once again and should retain the captaincy for the rest of the Autumn Nations Series and next year’s Six Nations campaign.
Johan Grobbelaar
While the early departure of Mostert led to the Boks losing some lineout balls initially, the Boks starting hooker Grobbelaar did not panic as he soon regained his composure and the grew stronger as the match progressed. The Bulls star soon found his jumpers in the lineouts and also impressed with his general play as he was a willing ball carrier and put his body on the line on defence.
Grobbelaar stayed on the field for the entire 80 minutes and made arguably his biggest contribution midway through the second half when he won a crucial turnover at a breakdown. His performance will see his stocks rise and he should be the Boks’ back-up number two behind Malcolm Marx when they take on Ireland in their next match.
Danilo Fischetti
Another Italian player who can hold his head high is loosehead prop Fischetti who delivered an excellent performance in the scrums and his early dominance in the set-piece resulted in the Boks replacing rookie prop Porthen midway through the opening half. Fischetti also did well against the more experienced Louw in the scrums, although the Boks were doing damage control initially, before they became more settled after the break.
Apart from his impressive display at scrum-time, Fischetti can also be happy with his efforts around the park as he was visible as a ball carrier and also did his bit on defence.
Losers
Match officials
We don’t usually have a moan at the officiating of any matches but have to point out that we feel the decision to issue a permanent red card to Franco Mostert for his tackle on Garbisi was the wrong one. Mostert’s indiscretion was, at worst, a 20-minute red card as his hit was on the Azzurri fly-half’s chest and he did attempt to wrap his arm during the tackle.
Television replays clearly showed that although he did make contact with Garbisi’s head, it was after the initial hit on the Italian’s chest. Referee James Doleman was notified by his TMO Tual Trainini that an act of foul play may have occurred and after reviewing the incident, Doleman and his assistants, Ben O’Keeffe and Jérémy Rozier, and deemed it was always illegal which meant there was no mitigation and Mostert was subsequently red carded. A bizarre outcome and it will be interesting to see whether Mostert’s red card is dismissed or downgraded at least.
Franco Mostert
Although we disagree with the decision to send him off, Mostert’s departure in this encounter will certainly impact his participation during the rest of the world champions’ Autumn Nations Series campaign. Although we feel Mostert’s tackle did not meet the permanent red card threshold, if it is downgraded to a 20-minute red card he will in all likelihood still receive a suspension.
That would mean he will miss the Boks’ eagerly anticipated encounter against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday which will mean the world champions will be without the services of two World Cup-winning locks after Lood de Jager was also banned for the rest of the Autumn Nations Series.
Paolo Garbisi
This was an encounter which the Azzurri fly-half will want to forget in a hurry as despite his forwards giving him a good platform – especially after Mostert’s dismissal – he failed to capitalise on it. When on song, the Toulon star is a brilliant playmaker who can unlock the tightest defences but that wasn’t the case against the Boks as he failed to unleash his outside backs.
Apart from his struggles with ball in hand, Garbisi’s kicking – at goal and out of hand – left a lot to be desired and that kept the world champions in the game, especially in the initial stages after Mostert’s red card when they were scrambling to organise themselves. His goal-kicking proved particularly costly in the grander scheme of things as he eventually missed three out of his six penalty or conversion attempts.
Handré Pollard
Although he did little wrong, as he did well in the execution of his core duties, the nature of this clash meant he could not deliver a commanding performance to remind his head coach, Rassie Erasmus, of his abilities at this level.
With the Boks on the back foot due to that red card, they could not take too many risks and although Pollard was probably the right man for the occasion, he would probably have liked to show off some of his attacking skills which wasn’t to be in the end. Prior to this fixture, Pollard was left out of the Boks’ matchday 23 for five successive Tests with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starting at fly-half while Libbok was named on the replacements bench on each occasion and don’t expect that trend to change ahead of Saturday’s clash with Ireland.
Stephen Varney
After shining in his side’s triumph over the Wallabies in Udine, the Exeter Chiefs scrum-half went into the clash against the world champions with plenty of confidence. However, he could not replicate his previous performance despite his side’s numerical advantage for most of the match. Although Italy had the upper hand in the forward exchanges for a lot of it, Varney’s decision-making was not of a high standard and he was eventually replaced by Martin Page-Relo in the 66th minute.
Inexperienced Boks forwards duo
The impact of Mostert’s red card had a ripple effect on the performances of most of his team-mates and in the case of rookie forwards Dixon and Porthen it was a negative one as their experienced teammate’s sending off resulted in them being yanked off during the early stages of this fixture. Dixon was making his first Test appearance of 2025 – after debuting last year – and Porthen was only playing in his second Test following his international bow against Japan a few weeks ago.
However, Erasmus’ hand was forced and the experience of their respective replacements – Nortje and Louw – certainly came in handy as both played big roles in their side’s victory. Meanwhile, Dixon and Porthen are unlikely to feature against Ireland but they will be hoping to be involved in the Boks’ last Test of the year against Wales.