AFP/Cape Town

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer expressed confidence in the latest crop of Springboks to don the green and gold jersey after lock legend Bakkies Botha’s decision to retire from the team after a 22-6 defeat of Italy.
Meyer handed Test debuts to Nizaam Carr and Julian Redelinghuys while the less experienced trio of Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen and Johan Goosen were also given a chance to stake their claim for a place in next year’s World Cup squad.
Botha’s surprising decision to end his international career to focus on French club Toulon eclipsed a tactical and scrappy encounter in Padua on Saturday, where Italy’s only points came from the boot of New Zealand-born fly-half Kelly Haimona.
But after paying tribute to the lock legend, who played a key role in South Africa’s 2007 World Cup triumph, Meyer turned his attention to the players he hopes will go on to write their own page in South Africa’s book of rugby history.
“Bakkies will go down in history as one of the greatest Springboks of all time,” said Meyer of the 85-times Botha.
“He is a giant on the field and off it and never gave an inch, which personifies what Springbok rugby is all about.”
Meyer made four changes to the side that beat England 31-28 last week, with Johan Goosen tested at full-back for the first time in place of Willie Le Roux.
In the pack, Teboho Mohoje replaced Schalk Burger, Coenie Ooosthuizen came in for Jannie du Plessis and Trevor Nykane replaced Tendai Mtawarira.
An Oosthuizen try in the first half gave the visitors an 8-6 lead at the break and Carr’s throw just before the hour released Cobus Reinach to run through for South Africa’s second.
Bryan Habana ran through for South Africa’s third at the death.
Meyer said he was “very proud” of the way in which his young Boks came through, “especially in the scrums, where Trevor, in his first start, Coenie and Julian were part of a dominant performance against a very good Italian scrum. “The same goes for Johan, playing at fullback in a Test for the first time, while I thought Nizaam made a big impact when he came on - he had a massive hand in Cobus’s try which was great to see.”
South Africa face Wales next week in their final test of the tour and captain Jean de Villiers said: “We have one week left in our season and everyone involved knows the Test against Wales in Cardiff next weekend will be a massive challenge - we’ll be going all out to finish 2014 on a high.”
Meyer will then have only four games in which to run the rule over his squad ahead of next year’s World Cup in England, but he said facing Italy was crucial.
“That’s the kind of pressure we’re going to face in the World Cup. We need games like this, especially with new guys and youngsters under pressure,” added Meyer.
Italy, meanwhile, finished their test series with only one win—a 24-13 victory over Samoa in which the Azzurri scored their only tries of the series.
It marked Italy’s first win in a year, having finished the Six Nations with the wooden spoon and been handed defeats by Samoa, Japan and Fiji during a disastrous summer tour of the South Pacific.
The Azzurri, however, came close to beating Argentina for only the second time in a 20-18 defeat last week, and coach Jacques Brunel was quietly confident his squad has rediscovered some balance.
“In the past three games we’ve had the right mentality and made progress in our defence, which is a fundamental part of our game,” said Brunel.
“Overall, we’ve given a good account of ourselves. Against South Africa you could see our determination to play attacking rugby although we’re still looking for more balance between our defence and our attack.
“But I’m encouraged by the spirit of the players. We have to continue like this until the World Cup,” added Brunel, who said his squad was more or less decided. “We could add one or two players for the Six Nations, but the squad is more or less decided.”