Erasmus picks power for Turin as Springboks refuse to take depleted Italy lightly

Experience over experimentation in Turin

There is no gentle re-entry to this tournament. South Africa open the European leg of the inaugural Nations Championship against Italy at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Saturday, 7 November, kick-off 12:40pm local time, 1:40pm South African time, and head coach Rassie Erasmus has answered the occasion the only way he knows how: with experience, physicality and a team full of players who have already won the biggest prizes in the game.

The Springboks are unbeaten in the Nations Championship. They swept the July leg on home soil with bonus-point wins over England, Scotland and Wales, collecting a maximum 15 points, and now sit top of the Southern Hemisphere group ahead of New Zealand on points difference. That position is precious and fragile. Win all three November Tests, ideally with bonus points, and the final should follow. Slip against France in Paris on 13 November or Ireland in Dublin on 21 November, and New Zealand can overtake them, leaving South Africa in a third-place playoff rather than the showpiece final at Twickenham during finals weekend from 27 to 29 November. Italy are not a warm-up. They are the first of three examinations, and Erasmus has picked accordingly.

The team Erasmus has named

The starting side is a first-choice team rather than a development exercise. Damian Willemse starts at full-back, with Kurt-Lee Arendse and Ethan Hooker on the wings and the established midfield of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Morné van den Berg form the half-back pairing, while captain Siya Kolisi packs down alongside Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese. Ruan Nortjé and Salmaan Moerat are the locks, and the front row of Ox Nché, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit can set the tone of a Test in its first ten minutes.

The bench follows the same plan, with Wessels, Steenekamp and Louw up front, de Jager and Hanekom for power, and de Villiers, Williams and Libbok for pace. Moerat is the one fresh face in the 23 this season after missing the first leg through neck and toe injuries.

That strength matters because Cheslin Kolbe, André Esterhuizen, Eben Etzebeth, Kwagga Smith and Handré Pollard are all out injured. In most eras that would force compromise; South Africa's depth means Erasmus can absorb those losses without lowering the ambition of the selection.

A depleted Italy, and why that is not the whole story

Italy, coached by Gonzalo Quesada, face the opposite problem. Around 16 players are unavailable, including captain Michele Lamaro, centres Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex, loose forward Sebastian Negri, scrum-half Martin Page-Relo and full-back Lorenzo Pani. Menoncello and Brex are not squad players; they are the first-choice midfield around which Italy's attacking shape is built. Their absence strips the Azzurri of experience and carrying power in the very channel where South Africa are strongest.

Yet the Springboks refuse to treat this as a formality. Defence coach Jerry Flannery, speaking on Tuesday, pointed to last year at Loftus Versfeld, when an understrength Italy pushed South Africa hard before a 42-24 home win, and to Florence in 2016, when Italy stunned the Springboks 20-18.

Flannery also named the threats that remain: a set piece he rates among the best in the Six Nations, a disciplined, well-coached side dangerous in the air, Paolo Garbisi's left-footed kicking game, and Ange Capuozzo, who can break a game open from broken play.

The defence question Flannery must answer

This match is about more than the result. Flannery was strikingly honest about defence: the Springboks conceded five tries in their 42-38 defeat by Australia in Perth on 27 September, and are conceding roughly three tries per match this year, compared with about two last year.

Against Australia, poor discipline let the Wallabies into South Africa's 22, where they broke the defence down. Turin is the first chance to reset that standard, and with limited preparation time, Flannery said, it is about pitching up on the day.

That matters because the tour doubles as preparation for next year's Rugby World Cup in Australia. Three huge Tests in quick succession, after gathering only on the Sunday before this match, are, in Flannery's words, almost like knockout rugby. A tight defensive display in Turin would therefore mean more than log points: it would suggest the system travels.

What success looks like on Saturday

None of this makes Italy favourites. South Africa are world champions, top of their group, and have named a team stacked with World Cup winners against a side missing around 16 players. Anything less than a convincing win will be read as a disappointment, and a healthy margin would also protect the points-difference edge over New Zealand.

But success is narrower than the scoreline alone. South Africa must win the set-piece battle, control Italy's kicking game, deny Capuozzo broken-field scraps, and defend without the discipline lapses that cost them in Perth. Do that, and November starts with points and proof. Italy have shown, at Loftus and in Florence, that they do not need a full-strength side to ask serious questions.

Photo credits

Cover: Stefanie, CC BY-SA 2.0. First inside photograph: Alexdevil, CC BY-SA 3.0. Stadium photograph: Gabriele Barberis / Wikimedia Commons contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0 Italy. Original files retained without further image editing; all are historical file photographs.