A game the Boks should never lose

The pressure on the Springboks is simply not going away. Today they face another must-win situation when they challenge Italy in a crucial Pool B match at the World Cup.

The equations are quite straight-forward. The losing side will face an early exit from the tournament, while the winners will by all accounts secure a lasteight finish.

But why are Italy seen as such a big threat?

Today will be the 15th time the teams have met, with the Boks previously losing only once in a disastrous 20-18 defeat three years ago, which was the beginning of the end of the road for former Bok coach Allister Coetzee.

But in all honesty, and with the greatest respect to the Azzurri, the Boks should never lose to Italy.

In many ways the Boks’ recent warm-up game against Japan reminds one of today’s clash against Italy, as the previous time they faced Japan they had been handed a 34-32 World Cup defeat in Brighton in 2015.

And we all know what happened in that one-off Test, with the Boks beating Japan 41-7 to put the Brighton result to rest.

And it’s a case of déjà vu today because the Boks are under pressure as a result of too much talk centreing around Italy’s shock win three years ago.

If the Boks don’t beat Italy, they probably don’t deserve to proceed further in the tournament because the Italian side cannot really be compared to some of the title contenders like Ireland, England and New Zealand.

While the Boks still have to face Canada next Tuesday in their final pool match, it will mean nothing if they don’t get past Conor O’Shea’s men today.

One cannot help but wonder about the tactics to be used by Bok coach Rassie Erasmus in today’s crucial game.

A lot of noises have been made this week about the strength of the Italian pack who were admittedly very powerful in their convincing wins over Namibia and Canada.

But then the strength of those two nations was put into perspective after the Boks’ weakened team beat Namibia 57-3 and the All Blacks destroyed Canada 63-0.

So while we could expect to see a tactical kicking battle from scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and flyhalf Handre Pollard, with the Boks hoping to pounce on mistakes by the Italians, the result is all that matters.

As Erasmus put it, even the difference of a drop goal will do.