World Champions, South Africa, take on a high flying Italy side in Genoa on Saturday and we take a look at the game from a betting angle.
ITALY
Italy pulled off a massive upset last week when they beat Australia in Florence winning 28-27 despite starting the match as 15 point underdogs. When the final Australian conversion sailed wide the celebrations of the team made it clear what it meant for them to beat Australia for the first time in history.
The week before Italy had shown plenty of attacking intent beating Samoa 49-17 and in the Six Nations they won their first game, since 2015, when they beat Wales away from home.
SOUTH AFRICA
The Springboks were beaten by 4 points in France last week and although that was a good enough result to see Bok backers win on the handicap, it means that they go into this match against Italy without a victory on Tour having lost by 3 points to Ireland the previous week.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Italy have only beaten South Africa once and that was in 2016 when they won 20-18 in Florence, but the Springboks gained revenge the following year winning 35-6 in Padua and then 49-3 in the World Cup in Japan in 2019.
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TEAM NEWS
ITALY
15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan 9 Stephen Varney; 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Edoardo Padovani, 23 Tommaso Menoncello
SOUTH AFRICA
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Damian de Allende, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Albertus Smith, 21 Evan Roos, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok
BETTING – Click here to bet
Italy 10/1
Draw 45/1
South Africa 1/16
Handicap: Italy +18.5
Suggested Bet: First-Half Handicap, Italy +8.5 at 17/20
South Africa have shown they have taken this game very seriously by picking a strong team and while Italy may struggle to lift themselves to the level achieved against Australia, they are generally a strong first-half side and I think they can stay within the handicap.
There are plenty of other betting options on the game including First Try Scorer where Cheslin Kolbe is trading as a 7/1 favourite and Total and Points Lines will be out closer to kick-off.
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
