Bok coach cautious but there’s nothing ‘Mamma Mia’ about Italy

● The peak on which the Springboks have fixed their gaze for more than a year ahead of the Rugby World Cup (RWC), has been their long-time Pool B rivals the All Blacks.

Lurking at a much lower altitude in the foothills, however, are Italy, a team increasingly yielding to the gravitational forces of Test rugby.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus however sees them as the next biggest threat in their pool. He argues Italy could potentially impair their chances of qualifying for the knockouts, and the Boks aren’t taking them lightly.

“The All Blacks game is helluva important but I think the Italy game is a slippery one,” said Erasmus. “Obviously you want to win the All Blacks game but if you lose the Italy game you are really in trouble. We’ve seen, we’ve lost to Italy in the past.

“They are planning to upset us. If I were them I would be looking at our pool thinking New Zealand would be tough to beat. They can beat Canada and Namibia and if they want to go through, then go really hard at SA.

“They’ve pushed teams close the last couple of years. That is a really important pool game. Canada and Namibia, hell, I think we should beat them. “I think they are sitting waiting for us. That will be the pool game they will target.”

In fact, Italy coach Connor O’Shea has told the Irish Times his team’s potential passage out of Pool B is dependent on victory over the Springboks.

“At the RWC we absolutely must win against Namibia and Canada and then focus on the other two big challenges we have. I believe that against SA, with this team, we can create an opportunity on our day,” said the former Ireland fullback.

The reality however is that there is less separating Italy from Canada and Namibia, than New Zealand and SA.

The Azzurri have been woeful since the last RWC, winning just seven of their last 40 Tests before Friday’s clash against France.

Sure, one of those wins was against the Springboks in Florence in 2016, but those were Allister Coetzee’s Boks, which now seem part of the team’s distant murky past.

And to be fair, the last time the teams clashed the Boks atoned for that defeat by comprehensively beating Italy in the rain in Padua in 2017.

The other teams the Azzurri have beaten since the last RWC were Canada, the US, Fiji, Japan, Georgia and Russia.

Their only away wins in that period have come against the US in Santa Fe, Canada in Toronto and Japan in Kobe.

Italy aren’t just poor away from home. They also lost the two matches they’ve played on neutral grounds, one against Scotland in Singapore in 2017 and against Ireland in Chicago in 2018.

Last month Italy crushed Russia 85-15 but a truer reflection of where the side is at can be gleaned from their results in the Six Nations.

Since the last RWC they have not won a match in the Six Nations. Their last win came against Scotland in February 2015.