The Springbok side put in a herculean effort to beat Italy 32-14 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin in Italy in the third match of South Africa’s end of year tour. South Africa was reduced to 14 men in the 12th minute when lock Franco Mostert was given a straight red card.
The Boks outscored Italy 4 tries to 1 in a tense encounter to make it three wins from three played on their European tour.
Match report: A win that will never be forgotten for its bravery, guts and ultimately superior power and skill – more here: ✅#Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold #ITAvRSA pic.twitter.com/ew4bKWzxV7
— Springboks (@Springboks) November 15, 2025
There were 11 changes to the Springbok starting 15 to face Italy at the Allianz Stadium, home of Juventus football club, in Turin. Eight starting Boks had fewer than 10 caps, as coach Rassie Erasmus looked to mixed things up.
Disaster struck in the 12th minute for the Boks when they lost lock Franco Mostert to a straight red card, for a tackle deemed to be illegal, with the referee and television match official ruling there was head-on-head contact and no arms in the tackle.
Erasmus also rang the changes early on with Wilco Louw coming on at tighthead, and Zachary Porthen having to vacate after just one scrum.
There were three further changes as the Boks adjusted to being a man down, with the Springbok bench in an absolute state of flux.
The first points of the match arrived in the 34th minute, when Handre Pollard slotted a penalty, but only after being denied a drop-goal a minute earlier.
There was further confusion when Gerhard Steenekamp went off for a head injury assessment after his mouthguard alerted the matchday doctor.
Italy levelled the scores at 3 all with 3 minutes to play in the first half, with both sides struggling to get going in the match.
In a final concerted effort, a 14-man Bok outfit scored the first try of the match, Marco van Staden crashed over, and South Africa went into the break ten points to three ahead.
Italy opened the scoring in the second half, reducing the deficit to four points with a penalty.
Van Staden then incurred a yellow card for going over the top of the maul, and Italy took the three points on offer.
The Boks fired back through the boot of Pollard, after an Italian offside.
A scrum five metres from the Italian tryline became the Boks best chance to attack, and Morne van den Berg duly obliged as he scored South Africa’s second try of the match.
Italy struck back with a deft backline move that saw fullback Ange Capuozzo over the tryline.
The Bok backline kicked into gear in the final ten minutes as Canan Moodie fed Grant Williams who went over for a sweeping score to settle the nerves of the Bok faithful.
Manie Libbok’s boot found Ethan Hooker in the corner and the inside centre for the day scored the Boks fourth try to put a fractious fixture to bed as the Boks won 32-14.
The Boks now move on to Dublin to face Ireland at the Aviva in a weeks’ time.
