South Africa vs Italy Preview & Prediction | 2025 Mid-Year Internationals
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World champions South Africa contest their first official Test of 2025 when they take on Italy on home soil.
Start date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – Not televised
How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / US – Cannot be streamed
South Africa team news
Squad: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux
Italy team news
Squad: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo De Re, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manual Zuliani, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Andrea Zambonini, 4 Niccolo Cannone (captain), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommasso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali. 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisis, 23 Giulo Bertaccinini
South Africa vs Italy prediction
South Africa’s first official Test of the year sees them take on Italy in Pretoria, although the reigning world champions did thrash the Barbarians 54-7 in a Cape Town exhibition last weekend.
Italy, who defeated Namibia 73-6 last weekend, are naturally huge underdogs here and have not defeated South Africa since a memorable 2016 match. Indeed, that is their only win over the Springboks in their last 16 meetings.
The Azzurri enjoyed an excellent 2024 in which they defeated three tier one nations, but they haven’t been quite as impressive so far this year with only woeful Wales finishing below them in the Six Nations table.
A youthful Italian side is likely to get swept aside here, with South Africa capable of overcoming a significant handicap.
South Africa vs Italy tip: South Africa to win with -40 handicap
