Lock Lood de Jager was the only player with something resembling positivity in his review: "Was one of the team's better players, though he was still very far from his best. Can at least say it looked as if he tried". All that trying still landed de Jager nothing more than a zero.
South Africa have won just four games from eleven this year, and the weekend's match was their first ever loss to Italy. The loss sent the team down to fifth in the world rankings, their lowest in 10 years.