Boks and Scots clear away after even first halves

A stunning second-half performance propelled South Africa to a 63-21 win over Italy yesterday and gave the Springboks the first win of their European tour.

There was little sign of what was to come following a fairly balanced first half but two quickfire tries at the start of the second for Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse — his second of the match — helped South Africa take control.

The Boks poured in seven of their nine tries after the interval as reserves Kwagga Smith, Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Cobus Reinach all dotted down, as did Damian Willemse.

Italy, who beat Australia for the first time last week, can draw positives from an impressive first half in which the Azzurri matched the world champions and also led for almost 20 minutes.

Ange Capuozzo, nominated for World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year, again impressed with another try to add to the two he scored against the Wallabies. Lorenzo Cannone also crossed, but after their strong first-half showing, the Italians were blown away in the second.

● Later, Scotland overcame remarkable Argentina resistance in winning their thrilling year-ending test 52-29 at Murrayfield.

Argentina were leading 8-7 when flanker Marcos Kremer was sent off with an hour remaining for a swinging arm, and played with 12 men for a time in the third quarter after two yellow cards within a minute.

Incredibly, with 12 on the field and defending a five-metre scrum, the Pumas poached dropped ball and Emiliano Boffelli, playing on his club home ground, scored between the posts and converted his try.

The Pumas trailed only 24-22 with nearly half an hour to go but it was too long to hold out. Scotland added four more tries and wing Darcy Graham got a hat-trick in their highest score against the Pumas, who were later reduced to 13 when prop Thomas Gallo and Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie were sin-binned after a scuffle over the touchline.

“At a certain point, you’ve just got to stay in it, stay as close as you can when you’re down a man,” Pumas coach Michael Cheika said. “I felt like we could win. We certainly had the effort to win.”

Argentina finished the year with a 5-6 record but notable wins over New Zealand, Australia and England.

Scotland also finished the year with five wins and earned a measure of revenge for losing their series in Argentina 2-1 in July. First-five Finn Russell, not wanted on that tour, was the architect of the home side’s eighttry performance yesterday.

“He’s now the man in possession [of the 10 jersey],” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said. “Finn’s played really well the last two weeks and it will take something [special] to change that.”