Classic Rassie!
South Africa are currently playing Italy in their summer Test.
Known for his innovative plays, head coach Rassie Erasmus conjured up another wily piece of trickery against the Azzuri.
From a kick-off, the Springboks purposely fouled by not reaching the 10-metre line with the kick, resulting in a scrum to Italy.
However, given the home side’s dominance at scrum time, the logic of the move is clear to see.
We saw a similar piece of work in the 2023 World Cup, when they opted for a scrum off a mark when playing France.
Teams:
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker.
Italy: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Jacopo Trulla, 10 Giacomo De Re, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manual Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone (captain), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 David Odiase, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Giulio Bertaccini.
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 17.10 (17.10 Italian time; 15.10 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)
