Match News and Current Form
The Springboks marched on to a sixth successive win in all matches and a 23rd victory in their last 26 games (L3) with that victory at Loftus Versfeld last week, which got what will be a busy year off to a good start. The second test is proving to be more experimental for coach Rassie Erasmus and his coaching crew, who have made 11 changes to the starting XV, highlighted by fullback Willie le Roux becoming the eight Springbok centurion as he runs out against the team he made his debut against 12 years ago.
He joins an exciting looking backline in a side captained by lock Salmaan Moerat, while three potential debutants occupy the bench in Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese, and Ethan Hooker.
The Italians finished last week's test match the stronger of the two sides, as they’ll take much encouragement from outscoring their hosts 14-10 in the second-half. Whatever happens in this game, they’ll see their Southern Hemisphere tour as a success after their 73-6 win over Namibia to start things off, and coach Gonzalo Quesada has made five changes to his side in the hopes of causing a massive upset here.
The experienced Sebastian Negri comes in at flank, joined by Ross Vincent at eighth man. There’s a change at scrumhalf with Alessandro Garbisi starting, while the back three features two new additions in wing Jacopo Trulla and Mirko Belloni
Head-to-Head History
This will be the 17th meeting between the Springboks and the Azzurri, and it has been one way traffic with South Africa winning 16 of those.
Hot Stats and Streaks
• South Africa scored more of their points before half-time in six of their last seven games.
• A backline player has scored the first try in five of South Africa’s last seven matches.
• Italy have covered the pre-match handicap in four of their last six matches.
• Italy scored more than 24+ points in seven of their last eight away games.
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
Makazole Mapimpi will be aiming to take third spot as his own on the all time South African try scorers list, and he should be confident of doing so since his last nine tries have all come against European sides. Italian captain Niccolò Cannone will be looking to lead from the front, and he’ll be on a high after grabbing just his second try for the Azzurri last week.
There are no new injury concerns for either team.
Betting Analysis
South Africa will be looking to tighten things up and put in a dominant display here, and considering they kept their opponents to just seven, seven, and 12 points in their three home matches prior to last week's test, a Springboks win coupled with the unders in total points seems a good bet.