The 2025 mid-year international rugby fixtures continues this weekend with the second consecutive fixture between South Africa and Italy set to take place on Saturday the 12th of July at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha. We look at the clash from a betting angle.
SOUTH AFRICA vs ITALY
South Africa burst out the gates in Pretoria with first-half tries from Jesse Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and a double from Morne van den Berg, capitalising on an Italian yellow card in the 21st minute. Handré Pollard was flawless from the tee, converting all four tries to send the Boks into the break with a commanding 28-3 lead, Italy’s only points coming via a penalty from Giacomo De Re.
Italy responded early in the second half with a converted try from Manuel Zuliani, but the Boks extended their lead again through Vincent Koch, with Pollard adding the extras. The Azzurri rallied late, scoring through Pablo Dimcheff and Niccolo Cannone — both converted — narrowing the gap to 35-24. With 10 minutes remaining, South Africa sealed the win as Marco van Staden crossed the line, and the conversion brought the final score to 42-24.
Despite Italy’s late surge, South Africa’s early dominance proved decisive. The Boks controlled the opening hour, while Italy’s bench injected energy late on. Morne van den Berg was named Man of the Match for his standout performance.
The South African winning margin of 18 points was well shy of the 46 point handicap.
TEAM SHEETS:
South African Squad to take on Italy:
Rassie Erasmus names 3 players to make their debut off the bench this Saturday, namely Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese and Ethan Hooker. Salmaan Moerat is set to captain the team which contains 16 changes when compared to last weekends side.
1.Thomas du Toit, 2.Malcolm Marx, 3.Wilco Louw, 4.Salmaan Moerat Captain, 5.Ruan Nortje, 6.Marco van Staden, 7.Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8.Jasper Wiese, 9.Grant Williams, 10.Manie Libbok, 11.Makazole Mapimpi, 12.Andre Esterhuizen, 13.Canan Moodie, 14.Edwill van der Merwe, 15.Willie le Roux.
Reserves:
16.Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17.Ox Nche, 18.Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19.Cobus Wiese, 20.Evan Roos, 21.Cobus Reinach, 22.Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23.Ethan Hooker
Italian Squad to take on South Africa:
The Italians have also made a number of changes
15 Mirko Belloni, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Jacopo Trulla, 10 Giacomo De Re, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manual Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone (captain), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 David Odiase, 22 Stephen Varney, 23 Giulio Bertaccini.
Betting – click here to bet
South Africa 1.00
Draw 126.00
Italy 36.00
Handicap: South Africa [-38.5]
BET: South Africa (-38.5) at 1.85
Although South Africa fell short of covering the handicap last weekend, I expect a more clinical and fired-up performance this time around. With the Boks likely aiming to dominate from the outset and tighten up late-game lapses, I’m backing them to win by a much bigger margin. This is my pick of the weekend.
BET: First Try – Forward at 2.50
I’m expecting the Boks to assert dominance early through their powerful pack. A rolling maul or close-range pick-and-go feels likely to open the scoring, making a forward to score the first try a solid value bet at these odds.
Note: All prices are correct at the time of writing but subject to change.
