Rassie’s brutal fitness regime earlier in the year is paying off as he mixes it up for Italy

Since the Springboks dismantled France 32-17 last weekend, much of the analysis has focused on the world champions’ player depth and strong mentality under pressure.

And it’s not wrong to acknowledge those impressive traits. But one aspect that has been undervalued, if not completely overlooked, is the Springboks’ obvious superior fitness levels.

In Paris last week, they played 42 minutes with 14 men, away from home, yet finished as the much stronger team, outscoring France 19-3 in the final quarter.

By the end, the French looked out on their feet, while the Boks were purring. They appeared able to go for another 20 minutes without a problem if needed.

This wasn’t an isolated incident either.

Since the third round of the Rugby Championship, the Boks have “won” every second half after “losing” the second halves in four of their first six Tests of the year.

At Eden Park, in round three of the Rugby Championship, the Boks outscored the All Blacks 14-7 after halftime and finished strongly. They lost the match 24-17, but by the end, the All Blacks were hanging on.

A week later, in round four, the Boks arguably produced their best 40 minutes of rugby this year, overturning a 7-10 halftime deficit to win 43-10. They scored a scarcely believable 36 unanswered points in New Zealand.

A fortnight after Wellington – against Argentina – the Boks went from leading 25-23 at halftime in Durban, to winning 67-30, in round five of the Championship. They won the second half 42-7.

In round six against the Pumas in London, the post-halftime surge was less dominant, but still impressive as the Boks outscored their opponents 19-14 in the second half to win 29-27.

And against Japan at Wembley, the Boks turned a 26-0 halftime lead into a 61-7 win, adding 35 points in the second half.

 Superior fitness

These strong displays, especially in the final quarters of matches, where the bulk of the second-half points were scored, have not come by chance.

As the season has worn on, there is more clarity and evidence showing that the Boks’ early-season performances were influenced by their physical state.

Several insiders have explained to Daily Maverick that coach Rassie Erasmus pushed the Boks harder than ever in training in the early part of the season with a view to peaking on the current northern hemisphere tour.

The dual goal of winning the Rugby Championship and going 5-0 on the current tour required a bold approach in training – a target of peaking in November and not in late September and early October.

That naturally meant that earlier-season Tests would be negatively affected, which was obviously the case if you look at results and performances.

On-field training sessions before the July Tests against Italy were brutal, and that intensity kept up in the early stages of the Rugby Championship.

The Boks’ alarming physical collapse at Ellis Park when they gave up a 22-0 lead against the Wallabies to lose 38-22 has a bit more context now.

The players ran out of gas, which was partly due to some sloppy game management, but mainly due to fatigue after heavy training loads.

Of course, the Boks didn’t go into the match wanting to lose, but as ever with Erasmus, he was willing to risk a negative short-term result for the bigger overall picture.

The Boks had also lost the second half by 21-14 against Italy at Loftus Versfeld in their first Test of the year.

But after being edged 12-10 in the second half against the Wallabies in Cape Town, the trend has been overwhelmingly positive.

Erasmus didn’t give too much away when he announced the team to face Italy in Turin this weekend, but he did acknowledge a lot of work had been done off the field.

“Training has been an effort to simulate matches,” Erasmus said. “We try to make things like the scrum sessions in the week harder than in the actual games.

“With three Tests to go (in 2025), we can’t get fitter now, but after the work we did and after all the chopping and changing (of players), we are in a situation where most of the guys have five or six matches under their belts.

“A lot of training has helped, and there is cohesiveness as players get used to the changes.”

Italy shuffle

On the point of fatigue, Erasmus has cleverly rotated his squad to face Italy. Only wing Kurt-Lee Arendse played 80 minutes against France last week.

Eleven of the starting XV to face Italy this weekend didn’t play against France, while captain Siya Kolisi, who leads the Boks again, had only 40 minutes in Paris.

Others who featured against Les Bleus, such as fullback Damian Willemse, prop Boan Venter and hooker Johan Grobbelaar, didn’t play full games. Venter was subbed after 32 minutes, Grobbelaar played four minutes at the end and Willemse was substituted at 56 minutes.

There is a real freshness to the team to take on Italy, underpinned by hours and hours of punishing fitness work done earlier in the year.

The players who retained their places in the starting team are Venter, Kolisi, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Willemse.

Erasmus opted for the same bench except for Kwagga Smith (loose forward), who returns to the squad with Grobbelaar promoted to the starting lineup.

RG Snyman (replacement lock) is in line to earn his 49th Test cap, leaving him primed to earn his 50th cap in Dublin, where he plays his club rugby for Leinster, next weekend.

The Bok coach named a fresh front row of Venter, Grobbelaar and Zachary Porthen (who made his Test debut against Japan in London). They have a combined 12 Test caps.

Lock Jean Kleyn will feature in his first Test since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final when he pairs up with Franco Mostert in the second row. Kleyn did start against the Barbarians in Cape Town in June and was injured in that match.

Kolisi retains the No 6 jersey in a loose trio with Ben-Jason Dixon, in what marks his first Test this season, and Marco van Staden, who will start at No 8 but cover hooker.

Van Staden fulfilled a similar role against Tonga at RWC 2023.

The backline, while stocked with familiar faces, has an unfamiliar feel to it.

Morne van den Berg and Handre Pollard partner at halfback for the second time after pairing in the opening Test of the year against Italy.

Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie form a brand-new centre pairing.

That combination is a peek into the Boks’ future.

“If you ask Ethan, he will tell you his favourite position is inside centre and if you ask Canan, he tells you his hero was Danie Gerber, and outside centre is his favourite position,” Erasmus said.

“Canan has done great things at 13 and he deserves another chance. Jesse (Kriel) also needs a break.

“Essentially, although we won in Paris, it was a tough physical game, and the travel schedule afterwards was tough on the guys with late nights, early morning flights and bus trips to get here.

“Training on Monday was tough for the guys…they were really stiff. The team we have selected is quite young.”

The team to face the Azzurri has a combined 670 Test caps, compared with the unit that played last week, which had 1,101 caps. DM

South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Ethan Hooker, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Boan Venter
Reserves: 16 Gerhard Steenekamp, 17 Wilco Louw, 18 RG Snyman, 19 Ruan Nortjé, 20 André Esterhuizen, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.