Italy coach dumbstruck
O’Shea finds it hard to describe dismantling of his side by Boks
ITALY’S normally talkative Irish coach Conor O’Shea conceded he was speechless after South Africa ran in five tries to crush Italy 35-6 and avenge last year’s historic defeat. Allister Coetzee’s Springboks outplayed Italy on all levels, with the Azzurri managing just two penalties under the rain in the northeastern town of Padua, not far from Venice.
It was the first visit to Italy by Coetzee’s side since their 20-18 defeat in Florence in November last year -- their first loss ever to Italy.
“It’s always very difficult to describe a game like that. We just have to say that South Africa were better than us today [Saturday],” O’Shea said.
“It is difficult to find the right words.
“However, I am happy that in the coming years we will have a team that is of the same level.”
South Africa led 21-6 at the break, with tries from Francois Louw, Bongi Mbonambi and Francois Venter.
Steven Kitshoff and Franco Mostert touched down two more after the break, with man-of-thematch Handre Pollard converting four and replacement Elton Jantjies adding the fifth conversion.
Italy’s flyhalf, Carlo Canna, scored two penalties. “Rugby is always a matter of field energy, and today South Africa had more than us,” O’Shea, who formerly coached Harlequins, said.
“The South African players are very strong and it was difficult to counter them.
“At this time, the keyword must be resilience in the face of defeat.
“With this group we are going through an incredible journey and we want to make the difference in the future with a growing team depth.”
Italy captain Sergio Parisse said: “In the second half it was particularly difficult to move the ball and we clashed [with] a very dense and compact, defensive South Africa, but this is certainly not a justification for us. “We will see at the end of the World Cup where we will be; to date with Conor and the guys we are convinced that we are on the right track.”
It is the second straight defeat for Italy after they lost 31-15 to Argentina the previous week.
The Italians had ended a series of nine consecutive losses going back to their win over South Africa by winning 19-10 against Fiji earlier this month.
Under O’Shea, who took over in March last year, Italy have won four of 22 tests and three of those wins were against tier-two nations. – AFP
We clashed with a very dense and compact, defensive South Africa