The China Mail - South Africa defy early red card to beat battling Italy

Marco van Staden, Morne van den Berg, Grant Williams and Ethan Hooker scored the tries with Handre Pollard kicking the rest of South Africa's points at a soaking Allianz Stadium on a wet, grey day in northern Italy.

There were swathes of empty seats in the stands, with the big ticket in town being tennis stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz trying to set up a blockbuster final at rhe ATP Finals.

Nonetheless those present got fully involved in a surprisingly tight match in which South Africa were a man down for nearly 70 minutes due to Franco Mostert being sent off for a dangerous tackle on Paolo Garbisi.

It was the second time in as many matches that Rassie Erasmus' team made their lives harder with poor discipline but in the end it didn't cost a line-up which featured 11 changes to the starting XV in Paris last week.

"I'm not saying that they've re-made the wrong call but I definitely saw a lot of other shots in the game," Erasmus told reporters.

"I'm not saying anybody was wrong, I just thought the balance on calling the head shots was not as equal.

"By that, I'm not criticising. That's what I experienced live.

"When we review the game, we might come to a different conclusion and just see that we were totally wrong most of the time. And then we have to go and rectify it."

The Springboks next take on Ireland in Dublin, another mouth-watering clash in their tour of the northern hemisphere.

Italy, who made things interesting thanks to Paolo Garbisi's boot and an Ange Capuozzo try, finish their run of Autumn internationals against Chile in Genoa next weekend.

- Boks battle through -

A win over Australia and Saturday's dogged, if clumsy display offer more encouraging signs for Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada ahead the next Six Nations.

"We dominated the first half but the second was more difficult, a bit scruffier," said Quesada.

"We had a lot of good situations where we didn't score points... then when they got into good counter-attacking positions they showed the talent that they have."

Good Italy pressure in the opening exchanges led to South Africa being down to 10 men with 11 minutes on the clock, Mostert eventually seeing red after a long TMO check deciding his shoulder thumped into Garbisi's head.

Italy tried unsuccessfully to get in behind the Springboks' defence with grubber kicks while the usually laser-guided boot of Garbisi sliced two kickable penalties.

Pollard got the first points on the board in the 33rd minute with a penalty, to which Garbisi responded in kind three minutes later.

With the first 40 minutes up, South Africa stole a 10-3 half-time advantage when a powerful maul led to Van Staden grounding the ball under the posts, Pollard easily converting.

Garbisi cut the gap to four points with another penalty shortly after the restart and then reduced it to a single point when Van Staden was shown a yellow card for infringing at a ruck.

Italy couldn't make the two-man advantage pay, though, as they lost no.8 Lorenzo Cannone to a yellow for a dangerous tackle.

Pollard's penalty put the Springboks four points clear again but Van den Berg gave the Boks some breathing space when he nipped through the defence at a breakdown in the 59th minute.

But the ever-lively Capuozzo gave Italy hope moments later when his excellent run was spotted by Garbisi, whose pass allowed the full-back to charge home for a converted try.

Italy fans were galvanised but Williams removed all doubt in the 71st minute, crossing at the end of a brilliant move started by Canan Moodie's burst down the left flank.

And Manie Libbok's searching kick found Hooker who completed the scoring with his first international try, giving the match a scoreline that probably flattered the world champions.

S.Wilson--ThChM