Advertisement

Rugby-Sloppy Springboks battle past brave Italy

PADOVA, Italy, Nov 22 (Reuters) - South Africa claimed an unconvincing 22-6 victory over Italy on Saturday with a late try from Bryan Habana adding some respectability after a lacklustre performance in Padova. The Boks scored three tries, the others coming from Coenie Oosthuizen and Cobus Reinach, but showed none of the accuracy that helped them beat England at Twickenham last weekend, against an Italian side full of guts and passion. Bok coach Heyneke Meyer will be scratching his head looking for positives from the game with five matches to go until next year's World Cup. Their other points came from a Pat Lambie penalty and two conversions from Handre Pollard. Italy contested and forced the visitors into errors, with their points coming from two penalties by flyhalf Kelly Haimona. (Reporting by Nick Said in Cape Town; editing by Toby Davis)