Kwagga warns Boks of Italy ‘trap’

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Loose forward Kwagga Smith has cautioned the Springboks against underestimating a confident Italy when the teams lock horns in Genoa on Saturday.

Smith, who reverts to the bench following the return of the fully fit Jasper Wiese, believes the Azzurri’s first win against Australia last week was no once off.

When the Boks face Italy on Saturday, it will also be six years to the day they fell to a humiliating first loss against the Azzurri.

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“Italy have been building for some time under the coaching staff that was with Benetton, and having teams in the United Rugby Championship has given their young players excellent exposure,” he said at a Bok media conference in the build up to the clash.

“The Italy age-group teams have been very good in recent years and that talent is coming through now.

“Until now, Italy was a team where you could fall into the trap of not being properly prepared for them and then they shock you, but that time is over now after they backed up their Six Nations win over Wales by beating Australia.

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“In fact, last week I thought Australia were lucky to score that last try to come back into that game. It is a wake-up call for us to know we must play at our best to beat them.”

South Africa lost flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit to a red card in the narrow defeat to France last week, so Smith urged the Boks to remain disciplined in Genoa.

He added: “Discipline, for example, is vital and we want to be the best disciplined team in world rugby, so the opposition doesn’t get those opportunities to kick deep into our territory. We don’t want them entering our 22 …”

“And then when we get into their 22, we have to get better at taking our opportunities quickly because at the moment we are burning a lot of energy going through the phases.”

“We are working hard to make sure we put these teams away by seven points or more so that it doesn’t come down to close calls at the end that can influence the result.”

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Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix

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Devin Hermanus