Krappie: Springboks forced their game plan onto Italy… now for France

The Springboks dominated the set-piece and aerial contests against Italy, and are unlikey to change their team or game plan much for France. Man of the match during the Springboks’ 66-7 thrashing of Italy on Saturday, Morné van den Berg said the team had bounced back well from their September defeat against the Wallabies and wanted to similarly force their game plan onto France next weekend. The Springboks scored nine tries against Italy in Turin – six of them in the first half – as they won their fourth Nations Championship match in a row. They face France in Paris next Friday, and Ireland in Dublin the weekend after, before the tournament’s finals weekend in London at the end of the month. Boks nail the lineouts, aerial contest Saturday’s win comes after an error-riddled Springbok performance in their 42-38 defeat to Australia in Perth at the end of September. South Africa responded well with set-piece dominance, especially in lineouts, where they were able to score five tries from mauls. They were also excellent in the aerial contest, with the scrumhalves and flyhalves feeding the backline well. Wing Ethan Hooker was exceptional in winning the ball back after a kick. Van den Berg was excellent in setting up South Africa’s attack, scoring a try while enacting one or two turnovers himself. Flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu deserves a mention after scoring a try, kicking a 50-22 and slotting all 10 of his kicks at goal. Springboks prepare for the same against France “The loss against Australia really hurt,” Van den Berg said. “As a team it wasn’t good to lose in this jersey. So it was important to bounce back, and I am proud of the boys for doing that.” The scrumhalf said the Boks played to their strengths at the Allianz Stadium. “The Italians are tough, credit to them. Hard men. But credit to the boys. We stuck to our systems and forced our game on them… It was good out there.” He said the Boks would take it one step at a time during their six-day turnaround before facing France on Friday. But capitalising on the win in the grander scheme of the tournament would be very important. “Tomorrow we’ll review our game, look at where we can get better, and then day-by-day prepare to force our game on them [France] as well.”