Springboks wary of Italian threat

Springbok scrum coach, Daan Human, and front-row forward, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, are not taking Italy lightly and expect a gruelling battle against the Azzurri at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria.

The world champions will kick off their international season in earnest on Saturday following a convincing 54-7 win against the Barbarians in Cape Town this past weekend.

Meanwhile, the Italians, who are 10th on the World Rugby rankings, warmed up for the Bok Test with an 11-try, 73-6 victory against Namibia in Windhoek last Friday.

Human and Wessels say they will not underestimate the Europeans.

“Unlike the Barbarians, who do not play regularly, Italy do, so we will be facing a proper Test team on Saturday,” Human told journalists.

“The one thing about the Springboks is that we do not underestimate any side, and we know that Italy are very focused on their forward play, so it will be a proper Test match. They were very competitive in their first two Six Nations matches, and they have a 93% scrum completion rate, which says a lot about that area of their game,” he added.

Wessels also says he’s learned a lot from playing against the Italian clubs in the Unites Rugby Championship.

“I faced Zebre Parma and Benetton, and we did our homework on those players then, so we know the emphasis they place on the scrums. In fact, Zebre had one of their best seasons this year and beat a few big teams in the competition, so we are expecting a proper battle against them.”