Boks' bold kickoff tactic upsets Italy coach, but maul innovation wins praise

The Boks surprised everybody by beginning the match on Saturday by kicking the ball straight into the hands of Andre Esterhuizen, who was in an offside position and less than 10 metres away - an intentional ploy to set up a scrum on the half-way line.

Even though it was Italy's put-in, the hosts wanted to immediately target the Azzurri in an area of the game they believed they could gain the upper hand.

But Quesada was not impressed by the Boks' unorthodox start to the match, seeing it as a sign of disrespect.

"Concerning the first action, I prefer not to make any comments because I was really surprised," the Italy boss said. "I didn't take it very well, they can beat us without needing to do this kind of tactic.

"These last couple of weeks, we've been extremely respectful, coming here with a lot of humility â- the land of the world champions and deserved double world champions.

"It's a land of rugby, a land where we get inspired. I came here for the first time in 1994 and then 1996, 1997, 1998 with my club, and so many times with the national team and coaching. I love coming to South Africa.

"We know that when they prepared this game, they decided to dominate us and show us why they are the first team in the world.

"But I was surprised because I don't know if it was something we did or said that created that first moment. They didn't need to do that to beat us."

Surprisingly, Quesada had a very different opinion of the Springboks' other innovation from Saturday's game, which saw them throw the ball to a player who had been lifted in the air, essentially forming a line-out and maul in open play.

"They always have some tricky, nice strikes from lineouts in that zone and we've been preparing for it. In that zone, there's always something a bit special, different or innovative to surprise the opposition," he added.

"They tried this maul from second phase. It's a good idea because you have to react super quickly to sack it directly because as soon as the maul is formed and you take it down, you are collapsing the maul.

"I think they wanted to maul us all the way to the in-goal but we were penalised. I think it's just part of the really good work they do to always be one step in front of the other teams.

"It's innovation and good ideas, and I think they have the players for it. There's a lot of people in the staff who are thinking and preparing the games, and they have an amazing quality of player."

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