Gritty Springboks dig deep again to outlast Italy after more red-card drama

It was a case of very unfortunate deja vu for the Boks as Franco Mostert received his permanent marching orders for a high shot to once again plunge the Boks into crisis - this time just 11 minutes into the contest.

After a cagey, low-scoring first half in which they were barely hanging on and taking body blow after body blow in the wake of Mostert's red card, they finally broke through with a try from Marco van Staden on the stroke of half-time to release the building pressure and take a 10-3 lead.

But Italy would regain the momentum in the second half as the Boks continued to fall foul of the referee's whistle. Try scorer Van Staden also got sin-binned to reduce the visitors to just 13 as the Azzurri moved to within one point of the Boks' lead with successive penalties.

When the Boks got a rare penalty from just inside Italy's half, Pollard's educated boot extended their lead back to four points.

South Africa then got a bit of a reprieve when Italy's No 8 was also adjudged to have gone into a tackle too high, reducing the Azzurri to 14 - though they were still a man ahead with Van Staden off the pitch.

Still, that was enough for the Boks to sense their opportunity and go in for the kill. With the Italian pack a man down, the Boks turned down the easy three and went for a scrum. Off the wheeling set-piece and under penalty advantage, Morne van den Berg peeled away and crashed through a gap to score. Pollard converted to move the Springboks 11 points clear.

But the Boks' discipline let them down again and this time it was Italy's chance to strike back. When Van Staden immediately re-offended after getting back onto the field, a superb inside ball from Paolo Garbisi to Ange Capuozzo finally opened up the weary Bok defence as the fullback came charging through for a classy try. Garbisi couldn't slot the simple conversion, however, as the Boks stayed six points ahead.

With 10 minutes to play, Johan Grobbelaar pulled off a crucial steal in the midfield, but replacement flyhalf Manie Libbok couldn't find touch as the Italians escaped.

But then came a moment of magic, as the Boks scored a stunner seemingly from nowhere. A pass out wide found Canan Moodie, who skinned his man on the outside and then timed his inside pass to  Grant Williams to perfection for a brilliant finish under the posts.

Having finally broken Italy's resolve, the Boks finished the match strongly, with a pinpoint kick from Libbok finding Ethan Hooker, who turned and beat his defender to score his maiden try in green and gold, bringing the game to a fitting conclusion.

Italy can take a lot of encouragement from their effort, but in the end, they simply couldn't match the Springboks' grit and tenacity when it mattered most.

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