VIDEO: Italy unleashed their 'Grenade Squad'

VIDEO: Italy’s coach Gonzalo Quesada hailed his ‘Grenade Squad’ for how they disrupted the Springboks in the second half, which also resulted in their three tries.

Yes, Italy lost the Test at Loftus Versfeld by 42-24, but the Azzurri could hold their heads high for arguably ‘winning’ the second half 21-14.

Not only did the young Italian side manage to disrupt the mighty Springboks, but it was all planned by some clever coaching, Quesada revealed.

He laughingly referred to the Italian bench as his ‘Grenade Squad’ as a side jab at the Boks’ Bomb Squad.

On Saturday, the TNT of Italy’s bench was too much for the Springboks to handle through a combination of Italian grit, fighting spirit, and Bok mistakes.

When the teams headed to the tunnel at half-time, the Springboks were comfortably ahead 28-3.

But the Italians came out firing in the second half after some deft planning by their coaching staff.

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“We did an analysis of the first half and the fact that the possession was all theirs, but there were two set-piece tries from them [Springboks].

“I thought we were not believing in ourselves, not trying enough, and not respecting enough the things that we prepared,” Quesade told reporters during the post-match press conference.

“[At halftime] we tried to create a bit more belief in the guys, just making them aware that we could do much better.

“That we could hold that intensity and put a bit more discipline in our defence because we gave away easy penalties that brought them into our 22.

“And then we talked a lot about the attack, about trying a bit more, and we explained where the opportunities could be.

“A lot of the merit goes to the captain and the leaders. The way they handled the second half was incredible,” the coach said, gesturing towards Niccolo Cannone, Italy’s captain, sitting next to him.

“And I think our Grenade Squad did really well,” Quesade added.

“Our bench – all of them – brought something, even if, for some of them, it was their first game ever for the national team.

“We knew it was their first Test of the year. And we knew, with a bit of luck, if we took all the time and space from them, it being their first Test of the year, maybe they would not be as shrewd as they could be.

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“If you look at our stats, we are a team that normally has less possession than the opposition, so we are used to defending.

“We have really excellent jackals in the team.

“It’s part of the things we work on against anyone we play.

“And we have some rules and principles that allow us to recover some balls and to stop attacks too,” he commented.

“I think it was easy for our defence coach and the coaching staff to plan a type of defence to stop all those carries and how much they can hurt.

“But then execution, and the heart and shoulders and the bodies is the biggest job.

“That is why I am so proud. Because they were coming hard.

“I know they [Springboks] were a bit frustrated, but they were coming hard. They were coming hard and they are good and we can feel it now in the dressing room.

“The guys were marred by the game.

“But I think it was a lot of effort and commitment and we talked about it a lot today.

“We had 17 usual starting players that were not here. You know, 388 Test caps against 1204 Tests.

“It was so important to be brave and confident in each other to commit to a big game in defence.

“So that is the memories that I have and I am so proud of the team.”