Italy and South Africa collide for the fourth time in two years as the two proud nations square off at the Juventus Stadium in Turin in the Nations Championship.
The top line
The Springboks will be out to prove a point in Turin after a disappointing defeat to the Wallabies in Perth last time out, and head coach Rassie Erasmus is taking no chances against the Azzurri, naming a matchday 23 overflowing with experience and quality. Italy have only ever beaten the Springboks once in the history of this fixture, but that was 10 years ago when South Africa were at their lowest.
Erasmus is not risking a 2016 repeat despite the length of the Italian injury list, naming essentially the same team that successfully defeated the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with the exception of Salmaan Moerat in the second row, who returns from injury to fill Eben Etzebeth’s void.
The Springboks head into the November leg of the Nations Championship at the top of the Southern Hemisphere table after three bonus-point wins in July but face an Azzurri team on the other end of the spectrum, with Gonzalo Quesada’s charges failing to pick up a single log point on their travels earlier this year. The Italians were beaten 27-10 by Japan in their opening game four months ago before falling to a 47-17 loss to New Zealand and were battered 57-10 by Australia a week later.
The Azzurri looked like a shadow of the team that had claimed their first-ever win over England in the Six Nations just a few months prior and had defeated Scotland in the Championship opener.
Under Quesada, the Italians have certainly made improvements, but November looks to be another huge challenge for them with the side bereft of some of their world-class talents, most notably their sensational centre pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello. Saturday will be their biggest challenge of the window as they front up against a full-strength Springboks outfit that will not only be looking to continue their run of wins in the Nations Championship but do so emphatically, with points difference set to matter hugely in the build-up to the Finals Weekend.
Where the game will be won
It’s no secret that if you want to beat the Springboks, you need to find some sort of parity up front or hold on for dear life. Australia did just that in Perth. They held their own in the first half, were battered in the second when the Bomb Squad exploded but had enough of a lead by then to eke out the narrowest and craziest of wins. The Wallabies provided the blueprint for a possible shock for the Azzurri: compete at lineout time, stall the maul as best you can even if you do so illegally, hold on at scrum time for as long as you can and then win the aerial battle.
Italy’s scrum has the potential to trouble the Springboks’ set-piece, even without the services of Marco Riccioni, who has made himself unavailable due to personal reasons. Tighthead Simone Ferrari is a fierce scrummager and was the pick of the props for most during this year’s Six Nations, whilst loosehead Muhamed Hasa and stand-in captain and hooker Giacomo Nicotera are no slouches, and neither is replacement loosehead, Danilo Fischetti.
The aerial game is really where the Italians can make a real fist of the fixture with Ange Capuozzo and Monty Ioane deployed on the wings, with the sharp kicking boots of Alessandro Fusco and Paolo Garbisi in the halfbacks. Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Ethan Hooker are the starting outside backs again for the Springboks, the same trio that turned out against New Zealand in Baltimore, and while they were excellent in that facet of the game, it is an area that is rather difficult to be consistently excellent.
Finally, the breakdown has been a major battleground in recent matches between these two sides, and it may well prove to be again, particularly in the latter stages of the game, with Ross Vintcent and Manuel Zuliani named on the Italian bench while Erasmus has picked Paul de Villiers and Cameron Hanekom on his.
What they said
The chat out of the Springbok camp is that of respect for their opponents and the seriousness of their preparation for the injury-stricken Italians.
“Italy are a quality team who will enter this match with immense motivation with an eye on trying to start their home leg on a positive note in front of their home crowd, and they have challenged us well before, so we have no doubt they will come out passionate and driven as ever,” Rassie Erasmus said.
“They have quality forwards and backline players, and although they are missing a few key players due to injury, they have a talented squad with players who will certainly want to make their mark with the 2027 Rugby World Cup less than a year away, so they will give everything on Saturday.”
The Springboks boss added: “Make no mistake though, they will be raring to go, not only with the Nations Cup in mind, but also to take full advantage of these matches as all the participating teams in the competition are preparing for the Rugby World Cup next year.”
Assistant coach Jerry Flannery echoed those sentiments later in the week and pointed to the Azzurri’s set-piece.
“We still respect them enormously – when they came to Pretoria last year, they were also missing key players and ran us very closely,” the former Ireland hooker said. “They have a really strong set piece. In fact, their scrum was probably among the best in the Six Nations, and that gives them a significant platform.”
Meanwhile, Quesada expressed the need for the Azzurri to be unpredictable against the South Africans, and that was reflected in many of his selections, notably at scrum-half and loosehead prop.
“I understand that seeing some players we’re used to seeing as regular starters on the bench might be surprising,” Quesada explained. “But let’s take Fischetti as an example: he’s playing six consecutive games, and we thought it was best not to let him start another four in a row. As for scrum-half, we chose Fusco because he arrived in top form, while Varney had to travel back and forth from England, like many others. Others, like Zuliani, have played very little and are still not 100% fit and haven’t played 80 minutes.”
Erasmus selecting his best possible team to face Italy was a sign of respect to Quesada, particularly with the fixtures that lay ahead of the South Africans.
“It’s not often that South Africa puts their best team up against Italy, and the fact that they do so despite playing on a Friday—with one less day of rest—against France is a sign of great respect,” he said.
“Erasmus is the best coach in the world and has always been very kind to Italy and to me personally: this is very pleasing, and I know that’s what he thinks because he tells me so every time we meet. He knows the reality of our national team and our challenges, so he can assess our performances very well.
“If we want to truly be in the game, we have to be at our best while also looking for different, more unpredictable strategies, movements, and ways of playing. Last year, we managed to compete in two out of three games; in Turin, with 10 minutes left, we were 20-14.”
Players to watch
The extent of Italy’s injuries is brutal, but the Azzurri still have star power in their matchday 23 and perhaps no brighter than Ange Capuozzo, who marks his return to international rugby against the world champions. Capuozzo is the definition of a player who can create something out of nothing and is just the kind of X-factor talent that the Italians need if they are to create an upset.
In the absence of Brex and Menoncello, Quesada has turned to Leonardo Marin and Paolo Odogwu to shore up the Italian midfield, with the former again being the Azzurri’s Mr. Fix-It. Marin is getting more and more minutes in the midfield for club and country but started his career out as a fly-half who could play full-back. He has proven to be a real asset off the bench in recent times but has also stepped up to the plate and delivered in the starting XV when required. The duo will form a classic playmaker-bruiser combination for the Italians, with Odogwu blessed with pace and power.
While this is a very settled Springboks squad, two players will be in the spotlight: Salmaan Moerat and Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Moerat is far from a popular selection among the Bok supporters but has the backing of the coaching team, who have backed him to fill Etzebeth’s void in the second row despite his lack of game time recently due to injury. Erasmus hailed the 28-year-old’s dark arts after naming his team for Saturday’s clash in Turin, but Moerat will still be the subject of debate around the braais. Meanwhile, Wessels will be eager to stamp his mark on the hooker role in the latter stages of the encounter, with the utility forward shaking his loosehead prop duties for the month. The Springboks are crying out for someone to establish themselves as Marx’s deputy, and Wessels looks to be getting the entire tour to do just that.
Springboks: Ruan Nortje gives blunt verdict on Salmaan Moerat’s selection for Italy Test
In the backs, Damian Willemse has been in unreal form when starting at full-back for the Boks and will be crucial to South Africa winning the aerial battle. As will Ethan Hooker, who has also dominated the airwaves while bringing pace, power and aggression on attack.
Main head-to-head
There are tasty head-to-heads littered across the two starting lineups, but the biggest gulf in experience, pedigree and cohesion is between the two loose trios. Zebre’s Samuele Locatelli is getting a baptism of fire as he makes his Test debut against the world champions, and on the other side of the scrum is two-Test rookie Alessandro Ortombina. Lorenzo Cannone is the only regular starter for the Azzurri of the three as he earns his 41st cap starting at number eight.
Their opponents? The most capped Springboks back-row combination of all time, with Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese starting together for the 20th time. The Bok pack is a well-oiled machine, and much of that success is due to the balance the trio brings in terms of performance, experience and ofcourse, sheer brutality.
The breakdown, set-piece and aerial game are the crucial battlegrounds identified above, and the Bok trio all contribute to that. They are all excellent at the attacking breakdowns, strong ball carriers, and superb in winning the scraps from the aerial battles. The far less experienced Italian loose trio has a major task on their hands to compete in all those facets of the game.
Prediction
As much as the Italians have shown growth since the last World Cup and have made life difficult for South Africa in recent meetings between the two teams, a Springboks win just looks to be inevitable. The Azzurri have beaten the odds before, as recently as this year’s Six Nations, but this time around it just frankly looks to be too overwhelming.
Erasmus has selected a side that closely resembles the one that beat the All Blacks in three successive weeks, backing proven combinations at the highest level and a team that is comfortable in the structures. That team will be going up against an injury-ravaged side that is without key players in crucial positions. The Italians are bound to make a good fist of the match, but once the Bomb Squad is deployed, it’s hard to see how the Azzurri can possibly withstand its explosion.
The final scoreline is unlikely to properly reflect the effort of the Italians, but it is bound to get ugly with the Springboks surging to a 40-point-plus margin of victory.
The teams
Italy: 15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Paolo Odogwu, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Samuele Locatelli, 6 Alessandro Ortombina, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera (c), 1 Muhamed Hasa
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Tommaso Allan
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok
Date: Saturday, 7 November 2026
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Turin
Kick-off: 12:40 (local), 11:40 (UK), 12:40 (France), 13:40 (South Africa), 22:40 (AEDT), 00:40 (8 November, New Zealand), 08:40 (Argentina), 20:40 (JST), 06:40 (EST)
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (NZR) and Sam Grove-White (SRU)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)
FPRO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Broadcasters: Sky Italia (Italy), SuperSport (South Africa / Africa), ITV / ITVX (United Kingdom), TF1 (France), Virgin Media Television (Republic of Ireland), Nine Network / Stan Sport (Australia), Sky Sport (New Zealand), FloSports (USA), Wowow (Japan)
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Previous results
2025: Springboks won 32-14 in Turin
2025: Springboks won 45-0 in Gqeberha
2025: Springboks won 42-24 in Pretoria
2022: Springboks won 63-21 in Genoa
2019: Springboks won 49-3 in Shizuoka
2017: Springboks won 35-6 in Padua
2016: Italy won 35-6 in Florence
2014: Springboks won 22-6 in Padua
2013: Springboks won 44-10 in Durban
2010: Springboks won 55-11 in East London
2010: Springboks won 29-13 in Witbank
2009: Springboks won 32-10 in Udine
2008: Springboks won 26-0 in Cape Town
Source: www.planetrugby.com
