Springboks ‘score was too big’ as Italy coach weighs in on Jesse Kriel’s controversial try
Springboks centres Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel and an inset of Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada.
Italy’s head coach Gonzalo Quesada believes that the scoreline was not a fair reflection of his team’s performance against the Springboks.
The Azzurri were staring down a hammering defeat after the opening 40 minutes of action as they trailed South Africa 28-5 at the break.
Italy rallied in the second half, scoring three tries to the Springboks‘ two, with the inexperienced squad really impressive at altitude despite the 42-24 final scoreline.
Half-time talk
Quesada praised the efforts of his coaching team, who provided feedback to players at the break to inspire a much-improved performance, as well as the leaders in the team who helped implement the changes.
“I think we did a good job with our feedback and analysis of the first half on the fact that all the possession was with the Springboks, but there were two easy set-piece tries from them, individual mistakes that come from a bit of stress, some bad handling of the situation,” he said.
However, he still feels that the scoreboard was bloated and wasn’t helped by Jesse Kriel’s controversial try in the 10th minute of the match.
Kriel dived onto a deft kick in behind by his centre partner Damian de Allende. The try was reviewed by referee Hollie Davidson and her officiating team, but it was deemed that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to rule out the score for offside.
“To be honest, I don’t think the first try by Jesse [should have stood], he is in front of the kicker so it’s not a try either,” he added.
“So I think that score was too big.”
Improved discipline
On the improvement in the second half, he continued: “The key thing was discipline and believing more in ourselves.
“Especially with the ball, I felt like we lacked belief in ourselves and weren’t trying enough and not respecting the things we prepared. So we try to create more belief and let them know that they can do much better and hold that intensity.
“Also, to hold our discipline better in defence because we gave a few easy penalties that brought them into our 22, so we insisted on the discipline on defence.
“A lot of the credit goes to the captain and the leaders because of the way they talked and prepared the team to handle the second half, which was really incredible.”
The two sides will face off again in Gqbertha on Saturday, 12 July, which will conclude Italy’s tour of Africa, having played Namibia in Windhoek last week.
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