GQEBERHA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa smothered Italy 45-0 with only 14 men at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and swept their two-test rugby series on Saturday.
No. 8 Jasper Wiese was sent off in the 22nd minute for head-butting Italy prop Danilo Fischetti. His first international red card spoiled the chance to play with his younger brother Cobus, who made his Springboks debut in the second half.
Click to Gallery
South Africa's Jasper Wiese, left, falls to the ground after by Italy's Ross Vintcent, right, during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa's Edwill van der Merwe, left, scores a try as Italy's Alessandro Garbisi tries to defend during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa's Canan Moodie, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a try during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa's Edwill van der Merwe, centre, kicks the ball to score a try as Italy's Alessandro Garbisi try during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa had two tries by then and scored five more. Even when it had 13 players for 10 minutes after prop Wilco Louw was sin-binned for head-on-head contact, South Africa still scored. Winger Edwill van der Merwe was denied a hat-trick try by a forward pass so the pack engineered a lineout drive for Malcolm Marx to dot down.
Its the third time South Africa has blanked Italy. The last time was 17 years ago.
A depleted Italy — 10 players in single caps — never looked like scoring a try and didn't have a shot at the posts.
“To keep them to nil with 13 players on the field was pretty cool,” Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus said.
A strong response was expected from world champion South Africa after it was humbled by Italy's fightback in Pretoria last weekend. South Africa led 28-3 at halftime but won only 42-24.
This time, the Springboks led 24-0 at halftime and never let their foot off Italy's throat.
They even tried some innovative plays. The opening kickoff deliberately didn't go 10 meters to have a go at Italy's scrum. But Italy got a free kick. And in open play they twice created a driving maul by lifting a player lineout style, both times leading to tries.
“Sometimes those things work and sometimes they don't, and you have to take it on the chin if they don't work,” Erasmus said. “We won't be able to do them again for a few games as people have seen them now.”
The Springboks retained from Pretoria only seven players, including fullback Willie le Roux, who became the eighth Bok to play 100 tests, 12 years after his debut against the same side. Even with a much changed team, South Africa still started 11 Rugby World Cup winners.
One of them, scrumhalf Grant Williams, scored the opening try thanks to his Sharks clubmates on the wings, Van der Merwe and Makazole Mapimpi.
Van der Merwe dived beside the right corner flag for the second try and his second in his second test. After Jasper Wiese was marched, the winger also got the third try, the best of the match.
Loosehead Ox Nche had just arrived to shore up the Boks front row and destroyed an Italy scrum. Le Roux then chipped the ball and a kind bounce allowed Van der Merwe to dribble the ball to behind the posts and score.
Center Canan Moodie bagged the fourth try just before halftime when he smashed through two defenders.
Yellow cards dropped both teams to 14 players when Marx scored. But as the benches cleared the game lost its shape and it took more than 20 minutes for the Boks to score again. Beautiful handling set up Mapimpi's 33rd test try.
In the dying seconds, replacement hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels scored in the corner and Mannie Libbok converted from the sideline, his fifth success from seven shots.
South Africa plays Georgia next Saturday in Mbombela.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
South Africa's Jasper Wiese, left, falls to the ground after by Italy's Ross Vintcent, right, during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa's Edwill van der Merwe, left, scores a try as Italy's Alessandro Garbisi tries to defend during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa's Canan Moodie, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a try during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
South Africa's Edwill van der Merwe, centre, kicks the ball to score a try as Italy's Alessandro Garbisi try during a rugby championship test match between South Africa and Italy, at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Gqeberha, South Africa, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of more than a dozen people it said were wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said, adding that she hopes no one invades her country. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
