Springboks v Italy: By the numbers

ITALY v SOUTH AFRICA – ALLIANZ STADIUM, TURIN – KO 2.40pm (SAST)

Referee

James Doleman (New Zealand)

Test debut: 13 July, 2021 – Australia 26-28 France

Tests as referee: 16

James Doleman will referee this fixture for the first time.

This will be the second time he takes charge of a fixture in Italy, having been in the middle for the Azzurri’s 37-16 loss to Argentina in Treviso in November 2021.

Italy are yet to win with Doleman in the middle, having also lost 31-14 to England in the 2023 Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

South Africa, by contrast, have won both of their Tests with Doleman in charge, beating Argentina 36-20 on his Rugby Championship debut in 2022 and Australia 30-22 in this year’s tournament.

This will be Doleman’s fourth Test of the year, having overseen Ireland’s 32-18 defeat of Scotland in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in February and Uruguay’s 26-8 victory over Portugal last weekend.

Doleman also took charge of Argentina’s 28-24 victory over the British & Irish Lions in Dublin in June.

Head-to-head

Played: 18 – South Africa leads 17-1

Points for: Italy 219/South Africa 851 (Avg. score 48-12)

Highest score: Italy 31 (31-62 on 8 November, 1997)/South Africa 101 (101-0 on 19 June, 1999)

Biggest winning margin: Italy 2 (20-18 on 19 November, 2016)/South Africa 101 (101-0 on 19 June, 1999)

First met: 12 November, 1995 – South Africa 40-21 Italy – Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Last met: 12 July, 2025 – South Africa 45-0 Italy – Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Gqeberha

Head-to-head notes

• South Africa have won the last five fixtures, scoring 35 points or more in each victory.

• The Springboks hosted Italy in back-to-back tests in July, winning 42-24 in Pretoria and then 45-0 in Gqeberha.

• It was the third time in 18 meetings that South Africa had prevented Italy from scoring any points.

• In the first game, stand-in captain Jesse Kriel gave the Springboks the perfect start in the 11th minute before scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, playing only his third international, scored twice.

• In a blistering first-half performance, rapid wing Kurt-Lee Arendse also picked up a try to establish a 28-3 lead, with Italy’s only points coming from a Giacomo Da Re penalty.

• Lorenzo Cannone was given a yellow card in the 22nd minute, during which time South Africa scored 14 points.

• An evenly-contested second half saw both sides score three tries, with Arendse, Vincent Koch and Marco van Staden crossing for the home side and Manuel Zuliani, Pablo Dimcheff and Niccolò Cannone scoring for Italy.

• Italy played the last eight minutes with 14 men after Alessandro Izekor became the second Azzurri player to be sin-binned.

• Handrè Pollard converted all six of South Africa’s tries.

• South Africa made light work of an early red card for forward Jasper Wiese to win the return match with ease. They were 10-0 ahead when Wiese was sent off in the 22nd minute.

• Edwill van der Merwe got his second and Canan Moodie added another, Manie Libbok converting both tries as the Springboks surged into a 24-0 half-time lead.

• South Africa scored three more tries after the break, through Malcolm Marx, Makazole Mapimpi and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, with Libbok turning each of the tries into seven pointers.

• Wilco Louw and Danilo Fischetti were sin-binned for their respective sides at the start of the second half and Italy finished the match with 14 when David Odiase became the fourth Italian player to be yellow-carded in the two-match series.

• Italy’s only victory against the Springboks was 20-18 in Florence in 2016.

• The home side had lost all 12 of their previous encounters with the Springboks, dating back to 1995, all by 16 points or more.

• Tries from Bryan Habana and Damian de Allende gave the Springboks a 12-10 half-time lead.

• But Italy, guided by Irish coach Conor O'Shea, fought back and Giovanbattista Venditti added to South African-born Dris van Schalwyk's first-half try.

• A Carlo Canna penalty with 15 minutes to go gave the Azzurri an historic win.

Team notes

• Italy go into this match buoyed by their second consecutive win over Australia.

• The Azzurri ran out 26-19 winners in Udine, thanks to significant contributions from two players with strong Wallaby connections.

• Italy had never beaten Australia in 20 matches until their maiden win in Florence in 2022.

• Louis Lynagh, the son of Wallabies great Michael Lynagh and Melbourne-born Monty Ioane, the nephew of former Wallabies winger Digby Ioane, scored back-to-back tries in the space of four second-half minutes in Italy’s comeback victory.

• Both of Italy’s tries were scored while Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii was off the field after being yellow-carded for a high tackle on Paolo Garbisi with Australia leading 19-12.

• Garbisi slotted four penalties along with the two conversions.

• Front-row forwards, Matt Faessler and Angus Bell, crashed over in the first half for Australia, while flyhalf Carter Gordon got their third on 51 minutes, Andrew Kellaway converting the latter two scores.

• Their Quilter Nations Series opener was Italy’s first Test since they lost 45-0 to South Africa in Gqeberha in July.

• It was the first time the Azzurri had failed to score a point since they lost 36-0 to Ireland in Dublin in the 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

• The defeat followed a 42-24 defeat to the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld a week earlier.

• Italy warmed up for their two-Test July series against the Springboks with a 73-6 win against Namibia in Windhoek on 27 June.

• Fullback Jacopo Trulla led the way with a hat-trick of tries, while Leonardo Marin, Simone Gesi, Tommaso Menoncello, Alessandro Fusco, Mirco Spagnolo and Stephen Varney also crossed.

• Italy’s win was bookended by two penalty tries.

• Giacomo Da Re kicked six conversions and Varney added a seventh.

• It was Italy’s first Test on African soil since they lost 44-10 to the Springboks in Durban in 2013.

• Italy finished fifth in the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations standings after only winning one game, 22-15 at home to Wales in round two.

• The Azzurri had kicked off the tournament on the wrong foot for the 12th year in a row, losing 31-19 to Scotland at Murrayfield.

• Italy then finished the championship with three straight defeats: 73-24 v France at home, 47-24 v England away and 22-17 v Ireland at home.

• Italy conceded 11 tries, more than in any previous Men’s Six Nations match, in the defeat to France.

• Italy had the lowest possession share (just 43%) in the championship and were forced to do a lot of defending, making a tournament-high 191.2 tackles per match.

• The Azzurri’s tackle completion rate of 76% was the lowest in the competition.

• Italy were the joint lowest try-scorers with 10, along with Wales and conceded the most tries (29).

• All 10 tries were turned into seven-pointers through successful conversions.

• However, Italy missed five penalty attempts at goal – as many as the other teams combined.

• Only England (36) kicked the ball more than Italy’s average of 32 per match, a tally boosted by the Azzurri’s 50 kicks v Wales, the third-most by any team in the history of the Men’s Six Nations and beaten only by their 2009 total and the 54 Ireland amassed in a 2003 win

• against France.

• Italy received two of the four red cards issued in the championship in 2025: Giacomo Nicotera and Ross Vintcent, both v Ireland.

• Italy will conclude their Quilter Nations Series with a first-ever meeting with Chile in Genoa on 22 November, the South Americans having replaced Samoa in the fixture with the Pacific Islanders involved in the RWC 2027 Final Qualification Tournament this month.

• South Africa won comfortably for the second time this tour last week, despite receiving a first-half red card, when they came away from Stade de France on Saturday with a 32-17 win over France.

• In-form flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored South Africa’s fourth try and kicked 12 points as the Springboks overturned a 14-13 half-time deficit.

• The Springboks lost Lood de Jager to a permanent red card in the dying throes of the first half when he made contact with Thomas Ramos' head with his shoulder.

• At that point, France led by the slenderest of margins thanks to a Damian Penaud brace and Ramos’ two conversions, Penaud’s brace taking him past Serge Blanco as Les Bleus’ record all-time try-scorer.

• Cobus Reinach scored a brilliant solo try for South Africa, Feinberg-Mngomezulu converting to add to two earlier penalties.

• Replacements Andre Esterhuizen and Grant Williams scored tries in a dominant second half display by South Africa before Feinberg-Mngomezulu had the final say.

• It was 14 v 14 for 10 minutes of the second half when Louis Bielle-Biarrey was sin-binned on 64 minutes for a deliberate knock-on.

• The victory was a fitting way for South Africa to celebrate Siya Kolisi’s 100th Test and Rassie Erasmus’ 50th Test in charge of the team.

• he victory over France extended the Springboks’ winning run to five matches.

• Feinberg-Mngomezulu has scored 33 points in November, having bagged 16 points in the 61-7 win over Japan the previous weekend.

• He scored twice inside the opening quarter at Wembley and also kicked three conversions in the match for a 16-point haul, while Kurt-Lee Arendse bagged a second-half brace.

• Captain Kolisi, Wilco Louw, Esterhuizen and Jesse Kriel were the other players to cross the whitewash for South Africa, who were also awarded a penalty try.

• Manie Libbok slotted four conversions.

• South Africa’s year started with a 54-7 win over the Barbarians before beating Italy twice and Georgia 55-10 in the July internationals.

• The Springboks’ remaining Quilter Nations Series matches are against Ireland (in Dublin on 22 November) and Wales (in Cardiff on 29 November).

Team news

• Italy’s match-day 23 features only two players who were prat of the Azzurri’s solitary win over South Africa in Florence back in 2016 – replacements Simone Ferrari and Tommaso Allan.

• The starting line-up shows only one change from the victory over Australia last weekend, Marco Riccioni getting the nod at tighthead in place of Ferrari.

• Danilo Fischetti and Giacomo Nicotera join Riccioni in the front row with Niccolò Cannone and Andrea Zambonin paired together again in the engine room.

• Ross Vintcent, Manuel Zuliani and Lorenzo Cannone are the back-row triumvirate.

• Stephen Varney, named Player of the Match against the Wallabies, lines up alongside Paolo Garbisi at halfback with Tommaso Menoncello and captain Juan Ignacio Brex outside them.

• Try-scorers Monty Ioane and Louis Lynagh remain on the wings with Ange Capuozzo at fullback.

• There are two changes on the bench with the inclusion of Riccardo Favretto and David Odiase.

• South Africa have retained only four players in their starting line-up for the encounter with Italy – captain Siya Kolisi, prop Boan Venter, winger Kurt-Lee Arendse and fullback Damian Willemse.

• Johan Grobbelaar and Zachary Porthen, a debutant against Japan a fortnight ago, join Venter in a front row boasting only 12 Test caps between them.

• Jean Kleyn is named in a Springbok squad for the first time since the Rugby World Cup 2023 final, joining Franco Mostert in the second row.

• South Africa’s newest Test centurion Kolisi has Ben-Jason Dixon and Marco van Staden alongside him in the back row, the former having not featured for South Africa since the 2024 Rugby Championship.

• Morne van den Berg is paired with two-time Rugby World Cup winner Handré Pollard at halfback, Pollard having not played for South Africa since the loss to New Zealand in early September.

• Ethan Hooker starts a Test at centre for the first time, paired with Canan Moodie, with Edwill van der Merwe joining Arendse and Willemse in the back three.

Coach notes

• Gonzalo Quesada was announced as Italy's head coach in June 2023, succeeding Kieran Crowley in the role, and took charge of his first game in the 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations.

• He has won 37% of his games in charge (P20, W8, D1, L11). 

• Quesada, who turned 51 in May, was part of the France coaching set-up between 2008 and 2011 under Marc Lièvremont, helping them to win the Men’s Six Nations Grand Slam in 2010 before reaching the Rugby World Cup final the following year. 

• The Pumas legend joined Italy from French outfit Stade Français Paris, who he led to the Top 14 title in the first of his two spells in charge.  

• Quesada also coached Los Jaguares to the 2019 Super Rugby final and is the first Argentinian to be a head coach in the Men’s Six Nations. 

• As a player, Quesada scored 486 points in his Test career, winning 38 caps for Los Pumas. 

• Rassie Erasmus returned to the Springboks head coach role in February 2024, signing a contract that takes him up to the end of 2027.

• The win over France at Stade de France on Saturday, 8 November, was his 50th Test as Springbok head coach.

• He has overseen 24 Tests in his second spell as head coach, winning 20 and losing four (83.3%).

• Erasmus was the mastermind behind the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup successes of 2019 and 2023 – as head coach and then director of rugby.

• He also led South Africa to their first Rugby Championship title in five years in 2024 and a clean sweep of victories in the Autumn Nations Series that followed.

• His first reign in charge started with a defeat to Wales in Washington, DC, in June 2018.

• Erasmus won 36 caps for South Africa as a back-row forward from 1997-2001.

Ranking permutations

• South Africa are unable to improve their rating by beating Italy this weekend as a consequence of the 14.08 rating points between the teams.

• However, a victorious Springbok outfit cannot lose top spot this weekend as New Zealand are unable to overturn the 1.70-point difference by beating England at Allianz Stadium.

• The closest that New Zealand can get to South Africa is 0.25 rating points.

• If South Africa fail to win then they will surrender top spot to a victorious All Blacks but can fall no lower than second as Ireland are unable to improve their rating by beating Australia in Dublin.

• This is a consequence of Ireland being 7.16 rating points above the Wallabies before home weighting is factored in.

• A victorious Ireland will slip a place if England beat the All Blacks to climb to third, a position they last occupied briefly in February 2022.

• England cannot gain enough points to overtake New Zealand, even if they win by more than 15 points.

• France can only gain a maximum of 0.18 points for beating ninth-ranked Fiji by more than 15 points, which would be enough to lift them to third if England and Ireland both lose.

• Australia can move into the top six – and Band 1 for the RWC 2027 Draw – if they beat Ireland by more than 15 points and Argentina fail to beat Scotland at Murrayfield.

• If Los Pumas lose, then Australia simply need a win to climb to sixth.

• The Wallabies could climb another place to fifth if they win by more than 15 points and France suffer a loss to Fiji by the same margin.

• France can also drop out of the top six themselves if the above happens in tandem with an Argentina victory in Scotland. Les Bleus have not been ranked outside the top six since January 2020.

• Fiji could also force their way into the top six – for the first time – if they win by more than 15 points and Argentina and Australia both lose.

• Scotland will climb above Australia if they beat Argentina and the Wallabies lose in Dublin, however they are unable to catch Los Pumas this weekend as a win by more than 15 points would see them trail by 0.06.

• Italy will gain at least one place if they beat South Africa and Scotland fall to Argentina, resulting in the Scots dropping to 10th.

Italy starting XV: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (capt), 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Ross Vintcent, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti. Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 David Odiase, 22 Martin Page-Relo, 23 Tommaso Allan.

Springbok starting XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg; 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt); 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Jean Kleyn; 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Boan Venter. Replacements: 16 Gerhard Steenekamp, 17 Wilco Louw, 18 RG Snyman, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.

Springboks v Italy @ Allianz Stadium, Turin - 2.40pm

Referee: James Doleman (NZR)

Assistant Referee 1: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)

Assistant Referee 2: Jérémy Rozier (FFR)

TMO: Tual Trainini (FFR)

FPRO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)