SA overpower Italy as Ford steers England to emphatic win over NZ

World champions South Africa beat a spirited Italy 32-14 on Saturday, coming out on top despite having to play a huge chunk of the match a man down, just as they did in last weekend's win over France.

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Marco van Staden, Morne van den Berg, Grant Williams and Ethan Hooker scored the tries with Handre Pollard kicking the rest of South Africa’s points at a soaking Allianz Stadium on a wet, grey day in northern Italy.

There were swathes of empty seats in the stands, with the big ticket in town being tennis stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz trying to set up a blockbuster final at the ATP Finals.

Nonetheless those present got fully involved in a surprisingly tight match in which South Africa were a man down for nearly 70 minutes due to Franco Mostert being sent off for a dangerous tackle on Paolo Garbisi.

It was the second time in as many matches that Rassie Erasmus’ team made their lives harder with poor discipline but in the end it didn’t cost a lineup which featured II changes to the starting XV in Paris last week.

"I'm not saying that they've remade the wrong call but I definitely saw a lot of other shots in the game,” Erasmus told reporters.