Cardinelli's piece argues that the 66-7 demolition of Italy was far more purposeful than the scoreline suggests. Erasmus deployed his strongest available XV from the outset — a deliberate statement rather than a rotation exercise — using Italy's limited resistance to sharpen the maul, the kick-chase, and the Japan-based fringe players ahead of the France and Ireland tests. The first half was clinical enough to invite questions about whether Erasmus had over-cooked the selection, but the second half reframed the picture: with the game won, he rotated aggressively, trialled Ethan Hooker at 12, ran a Libbok-Feinberg-Mngomezulu axis, and experimented with Grant Williams on the wing — the latter hinting at a possible seven-one bench split at the Stade de France or the Aviva.
Cardinelli draws a pointed parallel with the 2019 World Cup pool match against Canada — same 66-7 scoreline, same dominant first-half platform, same acknowledgement that the opposition was well below full strength. The broader takeaway is that Erasmus came away from Turin with forward momentum built, senior forwards largely protected (Kolisi, Du Toit and Nortjé barely cracked 45 minutes), and several backline combinations stress-tested against meaningful, if limited, pressure in the second half. The column concludes that this squad management strategy should keep both France and Ireland genuinely uncertain about what combinations are coming — which, with a potential Nations Championship final on 29 November in the background, is exactly where Erasmus wants to be.