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Live EPL on SN this weekendSpringboks thrash depleted Italy with nine tries
AP •  November 8th, 2026 5:05 am
South Africa's Damian de Allende powering forward in their nine-try hammering of Italy | Photo: AP
South Africa have roared to a predictably one-sided 66-7 victory over a depleted Italy side in the Rugby Nations Championship in Turin, running in nine converted tries at Juventus Stadium in Turin.
A halftime lead of 45-0 and Italy's weak defence on Saturday hinted at the Springboks scoring a rare century of points but errors crept in, the rhythm fell away, and Italy at least rediscovered their pride.
South Africa improved to 4-0 in the championship and boosted their chances of making the final at Twickenham by giving their points differential lead over New Zealand a huge bump.
South Africa's Jesse Kriel on the rampage in the win over Italy | Photo: AP
The Boks will play Six Nations champions France in Paris on Friday in what will be a vastly different test.
"It's almost impossible to put 80 minutes together at one hundred per cent," Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus said.
"But when you win 66–7, I don't think you can start nitpicking problems in the second half. It wasn't perfect, but it was proper.
"That said, we have to play much better than this if we want to be competitive against France and Ireland."
The Azzurri, 0-4 in the Championship, were missing a clutch of injured front-liners but played noticeably better when replacement halves Stephen Varney and Tommaso Allan arrived after an hour.
Erasmus picked an uncompromising side based on the Greatest Rivalry series win over New Zealand two months ago, and they hit the ground running.
Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, given a Rolls Royce ride behind a dominant pack, scored from a show-and-go 45m out that he finished with an acrobatic plant beside the right corner flag. He was also perfect off the tee — 10 out of 10 — and finished with 26 points.
Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg darted over from a ruck early on, then the Boks fixed their lineout drive and scored four times from it, starting with tries for Malcolm Marx and captain Siya Kolisi.
Fullback Damian Willemse finished a Lood de Jager chargedown and, while Italy prop Muhamed Hasa was in the sin-bin, Marx scored his second from another lineout drive.
It didn't look like it would get any easier when all six replacement forwards in South Africa's 'Bomb Squad' were unloaded in the 46th minute and Wilco Louw immediately scored.
But Italy scored next thanks to Varney's huge cut-out pass to unmarked lock Federico Ruzza on the left wing, before the Boks had the last say with tries for flanker Paul de Villiers and busy wing Ethan Hooker.
