We won’t underestimate Italy: Brown

Springbok assistant coach, Tony Brown, says the Boks will not underestimate Italy as the teams prepare to face the Azzuri in Turin on Saturday. He noted that Italy’s 26-19 victory over Australia last weekend highlighted the progress the team has been making.

The Boks extended their lead on the world rankings over New Zealand on the weekend, and despite taking on tenth-placed Italy on Saturday, Brown said they expect a tough encounter against the Italians in front of their home crowd.

The Boks will be looking to build on their momentum after a 32-17 win against France last Saturday.

“The France game was massive and it had been built up for a long time,” Brown said.

“There was a lot of media in France about the team trying to get revenge (after the 2023 RWC), but now that’s done, and the whole team has moved on to focusing on Italy.

If you watched them play against Australia, you’d know they are going to be a tough team, and this weekend is going to be a big challenge for us,” he added.

Brown delivered positive injury news, saying there are no concerns ahead of the match. He added that players are being carefully managed following the physically demanding game at Stade de France.

“We have a lot of sore bodies, so recovery has been massive for us, but we have no injury concerns,” said Brown. “Obviously, Lood (de Jager – who received a red card in the first half against France) has to go through a hearing, so we won’t find out if he’s available for selection until after that.

We’ll hopefully know by Wednesday what the status is with him. Both Lood and the sore bodies were part of the delay in announcing our team,” he added.

Written by: Ntsako Mukhari