Jerry Flannery is wary of the threats that an injury-hit Italian side poses to his Springboks defence after the Azzurri ran South Africa ‘really, really close’ in Pretoria.

Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada is without a plethora of star men for the meeting with the back-to-back World Cup winners, including the world-class centre pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello.

While the Springboks have a fair share of their own injury concerns, head coach Rassie Erasmus has still managed to name a strong matchday 23 for the meeting in Turin, with the team closely resembling the one that beat the All Blacks in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.

Jerry Flannery: We were very disappointed

He has made those selection calls after falling to a defeat to the Wallabies in Perth, a match in which the Boks conceded 42 points, with a largely changed side from the one that beat the All Blacks in Baltimore. Speaking ahead of the meeting with the Azzurri, Flannery has reflected on the games so far this year and says that the rising number of points scored against South Africa is part of a Test rugby trend rather than a structural flaw.

However, that hasn’t stopped the coaching team and players from being disappointed by the performance in Perth versus the Wallabies.

“We were very disappointed with the Australia game; you give credit to Australia – they showed how dangerous they can be, but we were disappointed in our own performance,” Flannery explained.

“Not a lot of the individuals that would have played in that Australian game have been selected for the current game, but it’s something that we’re always trying to work on as our defence – we were disappointed to concede the five tries.

“We’ve been working on that, but we’ve had a limited amount of time, so it’s about really pitching up on the day.”

The two matches that don’t mirror each other

The July Nations Championship match against Scotland was another fixture where many believed that the Springboks’ defence was picked apart. Flannery says that the two matches didn’t have the same defensive lapses, with one being a disciplinary issue while the other was more concerning.

“I don’t think that the two games mirrored each other, although we conceded a lot of points in both games. We’re disappointed, but we conceded a lot of points against Scotland, with them going through us,” he explained.

“The Australian game was a little bit more about poor discipline from us, allowing them to get into our 22, and then they broke us down from there. They got a couple of scores off a breaking ball aerially.

“Scotland game was probably more disappointing to me because they were going through us. So we tried to rectify that which I think we did the following week; we didn’t concede any the following week against Wales, but I don’t think the games are exactly linked up the Australian and Scottish game, but generally like I said, if we know that if we don’t, if we’re not tackling, if we’re not making our first-up tackles, they’ll go through us.”

Looking at the state of the global game, Flannery said that attack has the upper hand at the moment, with defences conceding more points. He adds that fact has put the defence coaches under the cosh.

“It’s the way the game is going. I think if you went back even the previous year, my first year with the Boks, we conceded fewer points,” he added.

“The trend in World Rugby is that attack is scoring more points. So it’s always challenging as a defensive coach. Each year, say since 2024, the points we’ve been conceding have been increasing but I think that’s the trend in in world rugby and for every single team in the world they’ve all been conceding more points.

“Defence coaches are all under the pump a little bit, but we’re trying to we’re trying to fix that as we go along.”

World-class midfielders

The former Ireland hooker admits that Italy will miss Brex and Menoncello this November, labelling the latter as one of the best centres in the game. Still, Flannery believes that the injury list will better prepare the Azzurri for the World Cup next year and pinpointed some of the other threats that they have in their ranks – which the Boks have a plan for.

“We still respect them massively. I think when they came to Pretoria, they were missing some key players as well, but they ran us really, really close,” he continued.

“They’ve got a really strong set piece; their scrum is probably up there with one of the best in the Six Nations, and that gives them a big advantage going into the game. They’re a very well-coached team. They do the basics very, very well.

“Then, they have players like Ange Capuozzo who can break the game open if you give them half a chance. I take on board your point when they if they’re missing Brex, he’s a really really good footballer. If they’re missing Menoncello, he’s one of the best centres in the world and incredibly powerful, but they’ve shown that they’re building depth in their squad, and coming into the World Cup, I think that it’ll benefit from it. It’ll benefit them long term when they’re getting more caps in.

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“So, we’ve kind of looked at them; they have some dangerous individuals, but they’re a really well-coached team. So, we’re looking at defending them as a team rather than just defending the individuals.”

Paolo Garbisi threat and the set-pieces

The Italians’ kicking game and set-piece play are two other facets where he predicts that the Azzurri can put the Boks under the cosh.

“They’re a really good direct team. So, because they’ve got a good set-piece, they can launch effectively off that. If your players aren’t tackling well, then they’ll make metres against us; that’s what we saw when we played them at Pretoria as well,” he said.

“They have got a really strong kicking game and good kickers in their team. I think Garbisi has an excellent left foot, and they have got good guys aerially. So we need to be strong on those fronts, and then if there are any scraps off the back of the game, the likes of Capuozzo can create something out of nothing. So we’re looking to try and control those areas.”