Azzurri find 'no weaknesses' in this Bok make-up
SPOTLIGHT: Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada gave a tremendous compliment to his South African counterpart, Rassie Erasmus, on his 54th birthday on Thursday, by saying that the Springboks are ‘perfect’.
Speaking ahead of their clash against the back-to-back world champions in Turin, the 52-year-old Argentinean said: “It is an incredible challenge for us.
“To see Rassie respecting us so much by putting his best team on paper is incredible.
“There are no obvious flaws in their game.”
Typically, Quesada will look at his opposition for a long time to look for any flaws that they might have. But he admitted that when facing a complete and strong Springbok side, there are no flaws.
“Knowing that he [Erasmus] has selected his best team, the best players in the world, the best South African team to face us, is a big sign of respect.
“It means a lot that he respects us.
“At the same time, we must prepare for that.
“You spend a lot of time to find weaknesses and organise your strategy around those weaknesses,” Quesada said.
“When you don’t find weaknesses, you just have to focus on yourself.
“You have to give your best and not look for flaws because there aren’t any.”
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To compete against the world champions, Quesada said that the Azzurri need to be ‘solid’ and ‘hungry’. They must look to find alternative tactics, movements and ways of playing.
However, he said that they are aware of how high-intensity and physical this game will be.
With 16 key players missing from Italy’s squad (including captain Michele Lamaro and key backs Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex), Quesada sees the game as an important chance to test their depth, bring in key returning stars such as Ange Capuozzo and develop their character a year out from the World Cup.
“Some players have been out of the team for a couple of years.
“It will be a test of our character. We’ll see how we respond to this.
“We also have to play three other games after this [against Argentina and Fiji, before the finals weekend], so four in a row against top 10 teams who are all ranked higher than us.
“It’s the biggest challenge that Italian rugby has ever had. No national team have ever had this challenge.
“The players are ready for this high-intensity, physical challenge that South Africa will try to impose.”
