Springboks have to rise above the fray against Italy

The Springboks need to rise above the fray when they take on Italy in their end-of-year-tour match at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Genoa on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

It has been a tumultuous week, highlighted by the furore over the tweets of South African Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus, and culminating with him receiving a second match day and social media ban from World Rugby in under a year, on Thursday night.

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It was already a stressful time for the Boks, who have lost two games on the trot against Ireland and France, and with some of their players unavailable for their final game against England next weekend as it falls outside the Test window, this weekend’s clash against Italy is a must-win.

With their build-up having been disrupted by a lot of outside noise, coupled with the poor form of the South African A team, who followed up their loss against Munster with another midweek loss against Bristol Bears on Thursday, the pressure on the Boks has been steadily rising.

The decks have been stacked against them, they face an in-form Italy team that is on a high after having picked up their first ever win over Australia over the past weekend, and have the eyes of the world on them.

Due to the Erasmus incident, the Boks are arguably the most hated team in world rugby at the moment, public enemy number one, and unfortunately play a brand of rugby that isn’t popular among neutral fans.

Disturbing perception

There is also a perception that they are not getting the rub of the green with the referees, with most 50/50 calls going against them, and that has not been helped by the conduct of Erasmus over the past two weeks.

In the end this weekend’s Italian game, which before the tour would have been viewed as a good opportunity to give a number of the Bok second string players a run, has morphed into the most important game of the tour.

The Boks have to rise above everything that has happened, everything that they have gone through and produce a massive performance on Saturday.

 It will also do them well to play a more expansive game against the Italians, similar to how they played against the French, and they have to target a good win to make a positive statement.

A loss against Italy would be a disaster, and a tight win would just indicate that they are ripe for the picking, so it is important that the Boks put in a top class performance and claim a comfortable win, to ensure that they let world rugby know, that they are still a force to be reckoned with.