Kolisi brings calmness to Boks' attacking breakdown

ITALIANS tend to fume when Americans or Tik Tok influencers from other countries around the world butcher their pasta and spaghetti recipes.

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They normally go nuts when they see people breaking their spaghetti to “fit” into a pot before cooking it. For Italians, it’s sacrilege to break the pasta, use too much garlic or add ketchup to a dish.

They are the experts when it comes to creating great pasta and pizza dishes. They view the rest of the world’s Italian cooking as pure chaos.

The Springboks feel the same way about the set-pieces and the breakdown in rugby. They are the masters of the physical elements of the game and the rest of the world, well, puts ketchup in their bolognese sauce.

But on Saturday we saw a second-string Italian team go head-to-head with the Bok team in the physical stakes in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld, where they were outstanding in disrupting the home side's flow.

They caused a lot of chaos at the breakdown when the Springboks were on attack, going really low in the tackle before slowing the ball down with some counter-rucking and street-smart rolling away.