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A first half to survive on your feet, a second half worth applauding and a comeback that stopped a foot short of the line. In Fontanafredda South Africa beat Italy 41-29 in round two of the WXV Global Series: after the 55-21 win over Japan, Plinio Sciamanna’s side suffer the first defeat of the new cycle.
And I’ll admit it: in the second half, I believed.
First half: the maul and the South African punches
The start was promising: ball moved wide and a try for Alyssa D’Incà in the opening minutes. Then South Africa did what they do best, going straight through the middle. Above all with the maul, which in the first half was almost impossible to stop.
Italy took punch after punch, left and right, like stepping into the ring with Mike Tyson, and looked dazed for long spells: plenty of handling errors, passes thrown at team-mates’ feet, wrong decisions. Just before the break, though, came Vittoria Vecchini‘s try, the try of hope: 12-24 at half-time, and the players came back out with a different mindset.
Second half: the back three make Italy dream
Against South Africa you always have to play the full 80 minutes, because they tend to drop the tempo as the game goes on. That is exactly what happened: the Springbok Women began to tire, had some issues at fly-half and Italy started to believe.
Up front, plenty of fight but never real go-forward. It was out wide that Italy hurt them: Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi is a threat every time she touches the ball, and her chip kicks put South Africa under pressure. D’Incà grabbed her second try, the captain scored too, Aura Muzzo kept pushing on the other wing. And Francesca Granzotto found what would have been the go-ahead try, ruled out because her foot had touched the touchline. In the closing stages South Africa regained control and closed it out 41-29.
What did Italy lack to complete the comeback?
Above all, the first half: too many errors with ball in hand and too much suffering against the maul. Then the lineout, which needs work especially at key moments, with a few of Vecchini’s throws going astray. The scrum held up fairly well, giving ground only late on after the changes.
Across these two games, Italy’s best has come from the back three. Everything else still has to be built, but the foundations are there: Sciamanna has fixed the basics, starting with a scrum that went well against Japan and did not do badly at all against a far tougher South Africa.
The Rigoni mystery
One thing struck me as odd: in the end, not all of the bench was used. Sometimes you can understand the fear of upsetting the balance, and I’m not the coach. But in the closing stages I would have found a spot for Beatrice Rigoni: perhaps for Stevanin, moving D’Incà into the centres, or straight in at centre, alongside Mannini or in the classic pairing with Sillari.
Would it have changed anything? I don’t know. But trying to crack the whip with one of the best players ever to wear the Azzurre jersey was worth a go.
Ratings: 4.5 for the first half, 7.5 for the second
My verdict on the new cycle remains positive: I gave the Japan game a solid 7.5. Against South Africa the first half is a 4.5, the second a full 7, even 7.5. In the end they didn’t win, and the overall mark is 5.5.
We’re not finding this out today: we know these players have character.
A shame, because we believed. But there is material to build on for the future, and the next test is the United States: two games, overnight on 17-18 October (Italian time) in Texas and on 24 October in Nashville.
Read also
- Italy Women 55-21 Japan: is a new team being born?
- Italy v South Africa: WXV preview
- Zebre 13-47 Bulls: lineout in crisis, but the scrum holds
What mark would you give Italy? Should Rigoni have come on? Tell us in the comments on YouTube and subscribe to the DanPat Rugby channel.
Danilo — DanPat Rugby