Nick Mallett says Italy will back themselves to be competitive against a new-look Springbok team in Turin on Saturday.
The full-strength Azzurri are coming off a confidence-boosting 26-19 win against the Wallabies while the Boks have made 11 changes to the starting XV that humbled France 32-17 in Paris.
“The Italians have developed what I call an “all-court” game,” the former Springbok and Italy coach wrote in his News24 column.
“They can play through their pack of forwards, who are quite They out-scrummed Australia and they’ve got the physicality with their driving maul, as was evident when they surprised the Boks with their 20m driving maul in Pretoria earlier this year.
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“They’ve also got a kicking game – they can resort to the up-and-under and the contestables.
“And then they’ve got this very good backline that plays an Argentinian style of rugby.
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“They’ve got an Argentinian coach in Gonzalo Quesada, who bases his rugby philosophy on the way Argentina are playing at the moment, which is not scrum dependant anymore.
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“They move the ball around more than most teams. They’re really well organised, their accuracy is good, their passing skills are good and they’ve got a lot of physicality.”
Mallett said the match would also be a good test of Rassie Erasmus’ philosophy of giving players’ opportunities in difficult situations.
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
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