7 November 2026
The Springboks face Italy this afternoon at the Allianz Stadium, aiming to maintain their unblemished record in the World Rugby Nations Championship. South Africa enters Round 4 level with New Zealand at the top of the standings, making a high-scoring bonus-point victory critical in the race for the final.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus has named a full-strength lineup, resisting the temptation to rotate his squad. The world champions are prepared for a tactical, physical encounter in the chilly European autumn conditions.
"We know Italy will be desperate, and under Gonzalo Quesada, they have developed a highly structured and resilient game plan," Erasmus said. "Playing in Turin adds a unique atmosphere, but our focus remains entirely on executing our processes and securing the maximum points available."
Despite these cautious warnings from the Springbok camp, absolutely nobody expects the Italians to trouble the world champions. The Azzurri enter the fixture heavily depleted by injuries, missing several key front-line players, including regular captain Michele Lamaro. Hooker Giacomo Nicotera takes over the captaincy for a side looking to bounce back from three consecutive defeats.
Rugby pundits are universally predicting a comfortable, high-margin victory for the South Africans against the under-strength hosts. Bookmakers and statistical data models have set the expected winning margin between 22 and 28 points. The greasy, wet ball expected in Turin will test both teams' handling and tactical kicking strategies, but South Africa's experienced matchday 23 is heavily favoured to dominate the set pieces.
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.
Springboks: 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.