Italy Women: after Japan, the South Africa test

A week ago it was 55-21 against Japan; now comes the real exam. On Saturday 26 September at 14:30, at the Stadio Omero Tognon in Fontanafredda, Plinio Sciamanna’s Italy Women take on South Africa in the second round of the WXV Global Series. Danilo was in the stands for the first game of the new cycle, and in the latest episode of Divagazioni di Rugby he talked it through with Cristian Lovisetto: what worked, and why Saturday will be a completely different game.

What impressed against Japan

Danilo came home with one clear idea: he had seen a complete national team. Back-rowers making tackle after tackle, a lineout that, a few late errors aside, worked far better than on other occasions, forwards who were abrasive in contact within the limits of a physicality that is not that of South Africa or England. And then the depth: late on, Alia Bitonci on and Beatrice Rigoni moved to fly-half, new faces, changes that did not lower the level.

The comparison with the past is stark. In Andrea Di Giandomenico’s day, Danilo recalls, a single cold among the fifteen was enough to cause a problem. Today there are alternatives almost everywhere.

I came home with a smile and a bit of optimism.

Centres, wings and the captain

The unit that struck both of them most was the centre pairing. Sara Mannini brings physicality, Alyssa D’Incà is, for Lovisetto, “a bolt of lightning”, and the partnership looked well blended. The only limit, in his view, was a lack of options off the kicking tee without Michela Sillari.

At the back, Danilo has seen Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi grow tactically, even in a game in which Japan put her under pressure, with her usual pace, and now with the captain’s armband too. On the wing, Aura Muzzo is “a super athlete”.

Lovisetto adds the context: after Di Giandomenico, between Giovanni Raineri and Fabio Roselli, the team went through a change of styles that was not easy to absorb. That is why, for him, credit for the transition also goes to the players.

Why will South Africa be a different game?

Because the type of threat changes. Japan hurt Italy with maul tries and little kicks into the corner; South Africa, according to Danilo, will be less tactical and far more physical. Two different games, to be tackled with different weapons: it will be the test of whether the Azzurre are already ready.

The precedent still weighs: at the 2025 World Cup, on 31 August in York, South Africa won 29-24 and secured the first quarter-final in their history. The South Africans, however, arrive off a heavy 50-19 defeat to Wales in round one. And for Danilo, today’s Italy is in a different mood: after the changes of recent months he sees a less tense, more positive side, and it shows on the pitch.

The team to face South Africa

Sciamanna welcomes back two pillars: Elisa Giordano returns at number 8 and Michela Sillari in the centre alongside Mannini, while D’Incà moves to the wing with Muzzo, and Ostuni Minuzzi at full-back. Stefan and Stevanin at half-back. Mascia Jelic could make her debut off the bench.

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How will Italy v South Africa end? Tell us in the comments under the episode on the DanPat Rugby YouTube channel.

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