L'Italrugby struggles but falls in the final: world champion South Africa wins in Turin
It closes with a 32-14 victory for South Africa in the second November test match for Italrugby, which after the fine victory seven days ago in Udine against Australia also looked good against the world champions, except surrendering a couple of goals in the final that made the gap wider than the previous 70 minutes had shown.
At Juventus Stadium, the Quilter Nation Series competition begins with both teams eager to win but unable to overcome each other. South Africa remains down to fourteen from 11’11’ for the final red shown to Mostert, but Italy does not take advantage, in part because Garbisi is not having a good day from the pitch. It even takes 34 minutes to see the first points: Pollard scores them, on a free kick.
Garbisi again equalized on a free kick three minutes later, but at the twilight of the first half came the South African goal with van Staden, converted by Pollard, which brought the two teams sil 10-3 at the interval. Italy came back focused and Garbisi also regained confidence on free kicks, signing two in a row between 43′ and 52′ and bringing the Azzurri to -1.
With the teams in fourteen against thirteen (yellow cards for Van Staden on one side and Lorenzo Cannone on the other), South Africa first found another three points with Pollard and then the goal that seemed to split the game, with Van den Berg at 60′: the transformation by the usual Pollard made it 20-9. Italy, however, reacted and a trick of Garbisi gave Capuozzo the useful ball for the goal with which the Azzurri shortened the distance, taking the lead to 20-14 (the same Garbisi failed the transformation).
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In the final, despite being a man down, South Africa asserted their status as the world’s No. 1 team, went in goal with Williams at 72′ and Hooker as time expired (Libbok converted the first mark) and closed the match on 32-14. The Azzurri will close out the Quilter Nations Series next Saturday against Chile, while South Africa will travel to Ireland for a challenge that promises to be spectacular.
