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Straight after the game we talked about a comeback that fell just short. With a cooler head, in episode 42 of Divagazioni di Rugby with Cristian Lovisetto of Anonima Piloni, Italy’s 29-41 defeat to South Africa in Fontanafredda reads more clearly: it wasn’t the last ten minutes that cost Italy, it was ten minutes in the middle of the first half.
The blackout between the third and fourth tries
Cristian’s reading is clear: Italy played a good, generous game but paid dearly for the wobble between South Africa’s third and fourth tries. Little clarity, a defensive realignment gone wrong on the fourth try, a drop-out that didn’t go ten metres: small signs of a team that, in that moment, didn’t have everything in place.
The response did come. First Vittoria Vecchini’s try on the stroke of half-time, bringing Italy back to 12-24, then the second-half fightback. The bill arrived at the end: the energy spent getting back into the game was missing just as South Africa kept up their pace.
Why do South Africa fade after the break?
Because they are a heavy side built to go straight through you: lots of contact, a solid scrum, then ball to fly-half and two options, a kick in behind or width for wings who can run. The Springbok Women start fast and, unless they crush their opponents early, tend to drop off in the second half.
But there is more in that script than meets the eye. Starting fly-half Byrhandré Dolf attacks the line hard and Italy struggled with her early on; after she went off, South Africa hurt Italy in a different way, with little kicks in behind the defensive line. A structured game with different solutions for different players: exactly what Italy lack for now.
The one-note song and Erasmus’s signature
One detail really struck us. Two South African tries came from a lineout that was barely set up and turned into a spontaneous maul. We’re saying it on 27 September: we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Springbok men try the same move at the World Cup. It’s the kind of variation on a theme that Rassie Erasmus loves, borrowing ideas from right across South African rugby.
At every level, South Africa remind us of the “one-note song” by Italian band Elio e le Storie Tese: it sounds like a single note, then you try to play it and discover how much is going on inside.
What Italy have, and what they don’t
The second half showed what Italy have, but also what they don’t. Up front there are very brave players like Alissa Ranuccini, but one-on-one against physical sides it’s hard to get over the gainline. The lineout is limping. At half-back something is missing in game management and kicking.
In the centres, Michela Sillari played a fine game and was also useful as a goal-kicker. But against such a physical opponent we would have kept the pairing with Alyssa D’Incà at centre, which worked well against Japan.
Rigoni: the question worth asking
Then there’s Beatrice Rigoni, who didn’t play a minute. No criticism of Plinio Sciamanna, who is the coach and knows things we don’t see. But twenty minutes for a player with that experience and those hands, in a game like this, is something we would have given her.
If Paolo Garbisi had been left on the bench in a situation like that without being given a single minute, we would have asked why.
That’s why it’s right to ask: covering women’s rugby with the same attention as the men’s game means asking the same questions. Our verdict on the new cycle is still positive. Next up is the trip to the United States: two tests, overnight on 17-18 October (Italian time) in Texas and on 24 October in Nashville.
Read also
- Italy 29-41 South Africa: the comeback that fell short
- Italy Women 55-21 Japan: is a new team being born?
- What Zebre are missing: a lineout to rebuild and a scrum that holds
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