Cardiff – While the Welsh test this Saturday may be seen more as a reality check than a season-defining fixture, the questions surrounding the Springboks focus more on their own game plan than anything that the home side may serve up at the Principality stadium.

READ: Coetzee – Boks are moving in the right direction

The Boks have lost their four “foreign legion” players – and none more crucial than the duo of Duane Vermeulen and Francois Louw this week, both returning to their respective European clubs as the test falls outside the set test window.

Both players lent the Springboks stability and workrate, often doing more off the ball than in the limelight as they steadied the ship after the Albany and Dublin disasters in this year’s Springbok season.

Still, both players need to be replaced and while the replacements may well be easier to pick than many think at this stage of the season, the responsibility on those players remains massive in light of the workrate of both players both on and off the ball during the matches.

Take the Italian game – a match where the Boks dominated physically against a poor Italian side that offered little in terms of attack. The Boks returned to their strengths by playing most of the game without the ball and ensuring the defensive line wasn’t breached. To think that the scoreline favoured them so heavily when they had 40 percent possession and 37 percent territory in the game shows the resoluteness of the Springbok forwards in atrocious conditions in Padova.

The tackle count naturally was also higher and Louw contributed no less than 22 tackles, matched only by hard-working duo of lock Lood de Jager and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit, who both managed 22 tackles on their own. Vermeulen wasn’t far behind with 14 tackles while he also took the ball up 11 times for a net gain of 28 metres.

Both were instrumental in marshalling the defence and did the donkeywork, the unseen work that often goes on off the ball and both will be missed.

While Siya Kolisi has a high work-rate, the question on who will fill the No 8 jersey will be an interesting one. Dan du Preez has deputised from the bench for the past two test matches, and is seen as a potential star of the future while both Cheetahs players Uzair Cassiem and Oupa Mohoje could also come into reckoning for the position.

Either way, Vermeulen’s physicality will be missed, and the Boks should look to replace like for like when they make that decision.

Still, with Tendai Mtawarira missing out on the test, Steven Kitshoff has shown himself already to be an excellent replacement – not only through some strong scrummaging but also in making a massive 16 tackles – coming off the bench as a reserve. Along with Malcolm Marx returning it should give the Boks back some of the physicality they lose with Vermeulen and Louw gone.

Out back, the two standout backs – Handre Pollard and Francois Venter put in 27 tackles between them, more than the rest of the backline combined and showed just how strong they worked together against the Italians.

Wales will be a lot tougher though – and their stats underline that – having had 63 percent possession and 67 percent territory against the All Blacks and dominating all the stats except the scoreboard.

They have a 97 percent success rate at the rucks against the All Blacks and their star flanker Josh Navidi had 14 runs for 45 metres and is a key man in their line-up.

Since the Ireland defeat there has been a sense that the rest of the tour has been more about survival than taking a step forward. Cardiff will be a difficult test that will provide the team with some stern challenges at the breakdown – and losing two of the most senior leaders in the pack hasn’t helped.

It will take a huge effort from the rest to ensure that the workrate doesn’t dip and that the Welsh don’t have the same possession and territory stats as they did against the All Blacks.

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Cape Town – Springbok coach Allister Coetzee praised his team for getting the job done by beating Italy 35-6 in very difficult conditions in Padova on Saturday.

READ: Bok ratings – Monster truck day…

The Springboks kept the Azzurri tryless for their biggest victory in Italy since 1997, while the haul of five tries was the most scored by the South Africans on Italian turf since 2001.

Coetzee was especially pleased with the performance of the Springbok forwards, who did a splendid job against a determined home onslaught in the Test, which was played in persistent rain and very slippery conditions.

“I think it was a very clinical effort by especially our pack of forwards, who laid the foundation for a pleasing performance,” said Coetzee.

“And the backs adapted well in being direct. You have to work very hard up here in the Northern Hemisphere and be able to adjust your game, which I thought we did very well.

“Our composure was good throughout the match, and I have to praise the team’s leadership, who were yet again outstanding. We had a plan and they ensured we stuck to it.

“Our set piece was excellent and although the conditions were not good for our backs, they contributed with a very good defensive effort to help keep our opponents scoreless,” added Coetzee.

Four of the Springbok tries were scored by forwards, and Coetzee was satisfied with the effort of the starting pack as well as the replacement forwards.

Francois Louw crossed the tryline in the 13^th minute, and he was followed by Bongi Mbonambi, Francois Venter, Steven Kitshoff and Franco Mostert, all of whom scored their first Test tries in the Green and Gold.

Cape Town – Besieged Springbok coach Allister Coetzee, selection policy still a major bone of contention in his teetering tenure, has come up with at least some redeemable qualities in his latest match-day 23.

But he also won’t scramble entirely out of the woods from his many critics as a certain paralysis continues to grip him, it seems, over certain positions – most notably in regularly sub-standard ones among the backs.

It is little short of bewildering, really, that the back division for the Test against limited Italy in Padova was wholly retained in the team announcement on Thursday, despite looking so glaringly like the weak link in the ugly victory over France last Saturday.

In another broad Bok selection which suggests only that Coetzee is crouching in a personal laager — at the expense of much-needed experimentation with longer-term goals in mind — the only two alterations to the starting line-up against the 13th-ranked Italians are two enforced ones in the pack.

Nevertheless, one bit of laudable wisdom is the decision not to risk first-choice hooker Malcolm Marx — despite the suggestion (by interpretation of Coetzee’s words in the official release) that he might have bitten the bullet had the Boks been playing stronger foes.

The rugged No 2 has been nursing a shoulder problem and clearly the hope will be that skipping Italy means he will be rested and recharged for the trickier tour finale against Wales.

Although not by design, it appears, the development leads to the constructive facilitation of a maiden start for Bongi Mbonambi, the smaller but spirited Stormers man who ends a sequence of a dozen caps as a substitute to be able to show his worth from the outset.

Mbonambi was in excellent form in the knockout phase of Western Province’s surge to the Currie Cup title a few weeks ago, and there is no special reason to fear he will under-deliver here, even if Marx’s rare gifts in physicality and sometimes Superman-like abilities over the ball at rucks will be missed.

With Siya Kolisi having returned home temporarily for paternity reasons, there is also no reason to quibble over the now concussion-free Pieter-Steph du Toit slotting back in at blindside flank – another policy by the head coach that has yielded some more than satisfactory fruit recently.

With a sturdy, no-nonsense loose trio featuring Francois Louw, Du Toit and Duane Vermeulen, it will be a surprise if the Bok forwards as a collective are somehow bashed around by the Italian eight; it should be comfortably the other way around.

That said, purists might mutter that there is no real speed merchant among them, and the absence of Kolisi’s linking skills, deft offloads and willingness to maraud in wide channels will also have to be compensated for in other ways.

By far the more vexing issue, however, is the fact that this Springbok backline division continues to look alarmingly like the least exciting or incisive of the post-isolation era – it is defensively anything but watertight, either — and Coetzee steadfastly doesn’t appear to see all that.

Francois Venter was competent – and we’ll bank competent, frankly — at inside centre in his return to the Test fray against France, but almost every other berth behind the scrum is under very tenuous command indeed.

The coach’s insistence, especially, in keeping lingering faith with Andries Coetzee (fullback), Courtnall Skosan (left wing) and technically-challenged outside centre Jesse Kriel will only enrage many of his detractors.

Why he will not at least explore other options in those flat-lining berths is quite mystifying, and hardly helping his shaky levels of security at his taxing post.

OK, there is just a hint of acknowledgement that things may – I’d prefer to say do! – need shaking up among the back three, through the welcome summoning of slippery Bulls attacker Warrick Gelant to a spot among the reserves this weekend.

The former Junior Bok star could introduce thrust either from the last line of defence or one of the wing positions, but don’t get your hopes of generous exposure in Padova too high; that may only happen if the tourists have opened up significant daylight on the scoreboard already.

Or, heaven forbid, if they have some embarrassing rear-guard action to do in the last quarter?

*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing

Cape Town – Springbok coach Allister Coetzee says that discipline and dealing with contestable kicks will be key against Italy on Saturday.

The Boks take on the Italians in Padova a year after the suffered a shocking 20-18 loss in Florence.

That result is considered one of the lowest points in South African rugby history, and it has prompted Coetzee to treat the Italians this week with the utmost respect. 

READ: Frenchman to ref Boks v Italy

While the Boks are coming off an 18-17 win against France in Paris this past Saturday, the 38-3 thrashing at the hands of Ireland in Dublin two weekends ago is still fresh in the memory. 

That day, the Boks were bossed in the air as Ireland kicked on their outside backs with accuracy all night. 

The Boks were poor in that department, and Coetzee says that winning the contests in the air as well as keeping their discipline will be important against an Italy side he speaks very highly of.

“We have worked on adapting to referees. We have Mr. (Romain) Poite this weekend and it’s important for the players to keep working on the discipline,” Coetzee said.

“I was really pleased with our effort last week (against France) but in the second half there were one or two silly ones that put us under pressure.

“In these Test matches you’re looking at keeping the opposition out, and the one way you can do that is to be very calculated in terms of not conceding penalties.

“Italy has a great driving maul and you can only get to a driving maul from a lineout. And you get to a lineout when you concede penalties and they get a touch-finder. It is a massive focus for us.

“The other big step up we’d like to make is how we deal with 80 minutes of contestable kicks. Every game we have conceded a try. We want to focus completely on handling it well and dealing with it and making sure that the players around the catcher are in a position to take charge.”

Coetzee has also suggested that he will not be experimenting with any fringe players for this clash, opting instead to pick his best available side.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 15:00 (SA time).

Cape Town – Scotland gave the world champion All Blacks a serious run for their money in Edinburgh on Saturday night but fell to a 22-17 defeat. 

It was a brave performance from the hosts, who had exchanged blows with Steve Hansen’s men to go into the half-time break deadlocked at 3-3. 

The All Blacks got the job done in the second half, though. 

The visitors scored three second half tries through Codie Taylor, Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett while Scotland scored two tries of their own through Jonny Gray and Huw Jones.

More to follow…

Scorers:

Scotland 17 (3)

Tries: Jonny Gray, Huw Jones

Conversions: Finn Russell (2)

Penalty: Russell

All Blacks 22 (3)

Tries: Codie Taylor, Damian McKenzie, Beauden Barrett

Conversions: Barrett (2)

Penalty: Barrett

Teams:

Scotland

15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Lee Jones, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Cornell du Preez, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (captain), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Darryl Marfo

Substitutes: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Byron McGuigan

New Zealand

15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Ryan Crotty, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Kane Hames

Substitutes: 16 Nathan Harris, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown