PRETORIA, South Africa — The blowout expected from world champion South Africa didn’t eventuate as it scratched out a 42-24 win over Italy at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.The Springboks led 28-3 at halftime, dominating every facet. But even the ‘bomb squad,’ which entered to a roar of acclaim, could not press home the advantage into a scoreline their fans are used to against the Azzurri.The depleted Italians stunned with a comeback that unleashed three converted tries with two more tries ruled out. They got within 11 points of South Africa until Marco van Staden crashed over with seven minutes to go.Even that didn’t temper Italy’s fire, with the visitor attacking in South Africa’s 22 at fulltime.The six-tries victory was “disappointing” for Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus, who added it will make him reconsider the pre-planned team for the second Italy test in Gqberha next weekend.“We’re frustrated,” Erasmus said. “I didn’t pick up in the week that this was the way we were going to perform but it’s all fixable.”The makeup of the team may change to handle the physicality that Italy threw at us. You’d think a team that made 120 tackles in the first half would break in the second half.“But it’s a team that’s fit and passionate and we have to make sure that the team that we put out next week is not just a team that can go 50 or 60 minutes, it must be a team that can go 80 minutes.”The Springboks averaged 49 points in their last three matches against Italy and set themselves up for another rout. They largely retained the strong side which whi …
