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Cape Town - Former Springbok wing Stefan Terblanche says South Africa can forget about again thrashing Italy with a cricket score at Kings Park.
Terblance scored five tries on debut when the Boks beat Italy 101-0 in Durban back in 1999.
However, the Italians are a much improved side since then and while he still predicts a comfortable victory for the hosts, Terblanche feels it will be much tougher this time round.
"Forget about dream score like 101-0, Italy have a lot more bite nowadays," he told the Beeld website.
"It was a nice and special day, I remember it well. (But) that Italian team weren't really any good. Since then they have improved markedly after their inclusion in the Six Nations.
"We should win comfortably, but it could be a struggle as it is our first Test of the year. Without being arrogant, I do believe we'll win by 15 to 20 points," said the 37-year-old, who played 37 Tests for South Africa.
Terblanche also said the margin of victory won't be that important.
"It will be meaningful to win by far, but even if you win by 50 points then people will still say it was 'only Italy'.
"It's more about getting structures in place. When you take on New Zealand, Australia and even Argentina, the structures must be in place."
Kick-off at Kings Park is at 17:15 on Saturday.
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein
Italy:
15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke Mclean, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto De Marchi
Substitutes: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Tommaso Iannone
Terblance scored five tries on debut when the Boks beat Italy 101-0 in Durban back in 1999.
However, the Italians are a much improved side since then and while he still predicts a comfortable victory for the hosts, Terblanche feels it will be much tougher this time round.
"Forget about dream score like 101-0, Italy have a lot more bite nowadays," he told the Beeld website.
"It was a nice and special day, I remember it well. (But) that Italian team weren't really any good. Since then they have improved markedly after their inclusion in the Six Nations.
"We should win comfortably, but it could be a struggle as it is our first Test of the year. Without being arrogant, I do believe we'll win by 15 to 20 points," said the 37-year-old, who played 37 Tests for South Africa.
Terblanche also said the margin of victory won't be that important.
"It will be meaningful to win by far, but even if you win by 50 points then people will still say it was 'only Italy'.
"It's more about getting structures in place. When you take on New Zealand, Australia and even Argentina, the structures must be in place."
Kick-off at Kings Park is at 17:15 on Saturday.
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein
Italy:
15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke Mclean, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto De Marchi
Substitutes: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Tommaso Iannone
