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Cape Town - The Springboks will comfortably dispatch Italy in Saturday’s Test in Florence, local bookmakers have predicted.
The Springboks have had a torrid year under Allister Coetzee as coach, losing six out of 10 Tests.
The team suffered a first ever home defeat to Ireland, lost away for the first time to Argentina and also got humiliated in a record 57-15 defeat to the All Blacks in Durban.
Last week saw them lose 37-21 to England at Twickenham - their first defeat to those foes in a decade.
But this week they face Italy, ranked 13th in the world, and fresh off a 68-10 drubbing against the Al Blacks.
It surely won’t be another defeat for Coetzee’s charges?
Local bookies, Sportingbet.co.za, also do not believe so and have tipped the Boks to win by 19 points.
The Springboks also boast a 100% win record against Italy, having won all 12 previous Tests dating back to 1995.
Kick-off for Saturday’s clash is scheduled for 16:00 (SA time).
Head-to-head: Springboks v Italy
November 12, 1995: Italy 21-40 South Africa, Rome
November 8, 1997: Italy 31-62 South Africa, Bologna
June 12, 1999: South Africa 74-3 Italy, Port Elizabeth
June 19, 1999: South Africa 101-3 Italy
June 30, 2001: South Africa 60-14 Italy, Port Elizabeth
November 17, 2001: Italy 26-54 South Africa, Genoa
June 21, 2008: South Africa 26-0 Italy, Cape Town
November 21, 2009: Italy 10-32 South Africa, Udine
June 19, 2010: South Africa 29-13 Italy, Witbank
June 26, 2010: South Africa 55-11 Italy, East London
June 8, 2013: South Africa 44-10 Italy, Durban
November 22, 2014: Italy 6-22 South Africa, Padua
Teams:
Italy
15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Sami Panico
Substitutes: 16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 George Fabio Biagi, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Boni
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19, Franco Mostert, 20, Oupa Mohoje, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Johan Goosen
