South Africa (14) 26
Tries: Steyn, Bismarck du Plessis 2, Mtawarira Cons: Steyn 3

Italy (0) 0

Steyn crosses for his early try at a sodden Newlands

South Africa hooker Bismarck du Plessis scored two tries from line-out drives to give the Springboks victory over a hard-working Italian side in Cape Town.

Fly-half Francois Steyn opened up the scoring after six minutes with a superb pick up from the floor after a fine break from wing Bryan Habana.

Du Plessis was bundled over on 17 minutes before adding a second by the same method just after the break.

And Tendai Mtawarira finished off a flowing move to seal a comfortable win.

The victory is the third in a row for new coach Peter de Villiers, who led the team to a 2-0 series win over Wales coming into this game.

Conditions at Newlands were poor, with rain falling throughout the match, but the Springboks will be disappointed that they could not add to their four tries despite dominating possession and the set piece.

Steyn, who played at inside centre in South Africa's triumphant World Cup campaign last year, started at fly-half for the first time and although he did score a fine individual try, he sometimes struggled to find his best form.

Flanker Schalk Burger played his rugby in two months after a knee injury after coming on for Luke Watson with 22 minutes to go.

Italy's chances were not helped by the sin-binning of lock Carlo del Fava just before the break after a front-on tackle knocked Springbok number eight Ryan Kankowski unconscious.

South Africa now travel to New Zealand for the first game of the Tri-Nations series on 5 July while Italy take on Argentina next Saturday.

South Africa: Conrad Jantjes; Odwa Ndungane, Gcobani Bobo, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Francois Steyn, Ricky Januarie; Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck Du Plessis, CJ Van der Linde, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield (captain), Luke Watson, Juan Smith, Ryan Kankowski.
Replacements: Schalk Brits, Brian Mujati, Andries Bekker, Joe van Niekerk, Schalk Burger, Peter Grant, Ruan Pienaar.

Italy: Andrea Marcato; Kaine Robertson, Andrea Masi, Gonzalo Garcia, Matteo Pratichetti; Luke McLean, Simon Picone; Michele Rizzo, Leornardo Ghiraldini (captain), Carlos Nieto, Santiago Dellape, Antonio Del Fava, Alessandro Zanni, Robert Barbieri, Josh Sole.
Replacements: Fabio Ongaro, Ignacio Rouyet, Jaco Eramus, Tommaso Reato, Pablo Canavosio, Enrico Patrizio, Riccardo Pavan.