A sublime second-half performance helped South Africa to a 63-21 win over Italy in a chaotic and sometimes frenzied Autumn Nations Series affair at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
The Springboks led by just two points in the 45th minute but quickly moved through the gears to take the game beyond Italy, scoring seven tries, four of which came from the replacements bench, as the hosts, perhaps fatigued from their historic win over Australia, ran out of steam.
South Africa’s first win of the autumn was far from a perfect display but a clear reminder of their attacking potential and they head home with a convincing win over one of Europe’s rising powers.
Kurt-Lee Arendse opened the scoring inside two minutes, scoring for the third consecutive week and further underlining his importance to Jacques Nienaber’s side.
Damian Willemse produced a brilliant dummy miss-pass to give Willie le Roux the space and time to pick out Arendse, who just made the line under the close attention of two Italy defenders.
Tommaso Allan, starting in place of the injured Paolo Garbisi, notched Italy’s first points with a penalty before Cheslin Kolbe restored South Africa’s five-point lead with a cool penalty.
The hosts then unpicked the South African defence courtesy of a brilliant tip-on pass from Michele Lamaro. It gave Ange Capuozzo the freedom of Genoa and the young magician dashed home from just outside the 22 as Italy claimed the lead for the first time.
The sides then exchanged penalties before Bongi Mbonambi peeled off the back of a devastating line-out drive to put the Springboks ahead once more, with Kolbe adding the extras to make it 18-13 on the half-hour mark.
The Azzurri had a great chance to seize the initiative once more before the break but were thwarted at the line-out as Mbonambi, Salmaan Moerat and captain Siya Kolisi combined to isolate hooker Giacomo Nicotera and force a turnover just five metres from their line.
Allan kicked the first points of the second half to reduce the deficit to just two points but 25 seconds later it was the visitors who were celebrating, as Kolbe rose highest to gather Willemse’s restart and sprint home to kickstart what was a merciless second-half display.
That score did come at a price, though, with Kolbe visibly in pain after dotting down, soon departing the field clutching his hamstring.
But South Africa certainly didn’t feel the loss of their key man and were further ahead just seconds later when Arendse galloped home as the pace of the South Africa attack became too hot for Italy to handle.
The floodgates were now well and truly open, and replacement Kwagga Smith was the next to cross, powering his way over from short range after a succession of Springbok penalties.
The concessions continued to mount as South Africa ran riot, with Malcolm Marx the next to cross, putting the finishing touches to a superb driving maul which stretched their lead to 42-16.
South Africa weren’t quite as solid in defence as they were spectacular in attack and their line was breached for a second time when Lorenzo Cannone bulldozed his way over.
After a brilliant Allan cross-kick fell perfectly for Monty Ioane, the winger had the presence of mind to offload to Cannone in the tackle. Cannone looked to have set up prop Simone Ferrari for a score but, having been denied initially, Italy were soon over as the Benetton man grabbed his second Test try.
But the game was soon put to bed courtesy of a quick double score, as Steven Kitshoff became the third South African replacement to score before Willemse popped up on the wing to dot down as Le Roux claimed another assist.
And there was still time to add further gloss to the score, with Cobus Reinach touching down after Arendse sliced through the Italy backline in the closing minutes of the game.
