'When I saw it happen, I radioed down - I said it could be two'
Reporting from Tokyo: A ‘destroyed’ Conor O’Shea admitted that he thought that both his props could have been red-carded in the moments after Springbok No.8 Duane Vermeulen was dumped on his head.
South Africa ran out comfortable 49-3 at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, but a red card tackle by Andrea Lovotti at 17 – 3 ended any chance the Azzurri could pull off an unlikely win.
The Italy head coach has said that the incident has left his team – and the red-carded Lovotti – distraught.
“The first thing is all of us are destroyed. South Africa were stronger than us today. At 17-3 we made this line-break and then something inexplicable happened and after the red card the match was over.
“We’d already lost two players (props Simone Ferrari and Marco Riccioni) in the first half. We said before the match that we had to do everything perfectly. We came in with confidence. You prepare for a lot of eventualities but you can’t prepare for that.
“If we’d scored, you’d ask a question in the back of their minds. This wasn’t them coming to Italy in the autumn, this was them coming at us when we stood in their way (of reaching the quarter-finals).
O’Shea refused to throw prop Lovotti fully under the bus. “He is more destroyed than we are. I’m disappointed for us because we’ve come so far, and we have a lot of young players who will benefit from a game like that. That was a day they should only learn from once they get over the disappointment.”
Italy can't get out of their own way at times https://t.co/I7mDEzFDGU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 4, 2019
The former Harlequins coach admitted he thought two players – Lovotti and Nicola Quaglio – could have been potentially red carded.
“When I saw it happen, I radioed down – I said it could be two.”
“We didn’t get the chance to show our true worth in the second half. The squad fought hard, but it is hard against a team that are stronger. It wasn’t like a friendly and lots of players have learned a lot. They now know the level they must play at and, as I said before, the match was over after that red card.”
Sergio Parisse was naturally disappointed at the margin of victory. “‘Lovo’ knows he made a huge error. We started the second half really well. At 17-3 it wasn’t over. If we’d scored, then we’d be back in the match and we’d cause them little doubts. They deserved to win, but not by that much.”
“I’m more disappointed than most. We now need to use this match as something to learn from in the future. We knew about the differences between the teams before the match, above all South Africa is a physical side.
“South Africa play great rugby, but you still have to play the match. We suffered in our drives and we were unable to stop theirs. A few times we couldn’t bring people down and tackled too high.
“Before the red card we gave them too many lineouts inside our 22 and gave them too many penalties, which they kicked to touch and got their drive going.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Bar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
35 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
35 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
35 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
35 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
35 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
35 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
35 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to comments