South Africa have been accused of lacking respect by Italy boss Gonzalo Quesada after a bizarre kick-off routine at the start of their their 45-0 defeat to the world champions over the weekend. The Springboks deliberately conceded a scrum with the first kick of the game against the Italians as Manie Libbok deliberately kicked the ball less than 10 metres to concede a scrum, with André Esterhuizen clearly offside for good measure. It was blown up immediately by referee Andrew Brace, who then awarded Italy a scrum on halfway. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here. The cameras panned to South Africa boss Rassie Erasmus, who could be seen with a sly smile on his face, seemingly confirming that the move was pre-planned to set the tone with a dominant Springboks scrum. But while Erasmus approved, his opposite number was clearly unimpressed. "Concerning the first action, I prefer not to do any comments. Because I was really surprised, I didn't take it well. They can beat us without needing to do these kind of tactics," Quesada said. "I think we were, these last couple of weeks, extremely respectful, with a lot of humility coming to the ground, the land of the world champions. "I don't know if it was something we did or said that created that first move but I will only say that I was really surprised." South Africa have had a reputation for their fierce scrums in recent years, so this clearly felt an attempt to gain an advantage early on, despite the fact it was Italy that would have the put in. The move nearly backfired in any case, with Italy winning a freekick from the scrum, which was then taken quickly and nearly led to a try. Against better opposition, it's a move that might well have left South Africa vulnerable, but on the day they clearly felt the possible advantages outweighed the risk. The incident sparked debate on social media, with some effectively accusing the Springboks of cheating. "Dress it up any way you like, but this is cheating," said one fan. "@WorldRugby need to make sure this sort of cynicism is eradicated from the game." Plenty of others pointed out that it would likely be given as a penalty in future due to Law 9.2, which states that a player must not "Intentionally infringe any law of the game", adding that the sanction should be a penalty rather than a scrum. There was plenty more to digest from the match itself, with South Africa running over seven tries, despite having Jasper Wiese sent off on 22 minutes for an apparent headbutt. Not that it seemed to upset South Africa's confidence to continue to try new things. In one particularly eye-catching move just before half-tome, the Springboks, in open play, lifted a man up as in the style of a lineout in a bid to create maul. It then resulted in a try as Canan Moodie went over, and Quesada was a little softer in his stance on that particular tactic. "They always have some tricky, nice strikes from lineouts," he said. "In that zone there's always something a bit special, different, innovative to surprise the opposition. They tried this maul from second phase. It's a good idea because you have to react super quickly. "As soon as the maul is formed, if you take it down you're collapsing a maul. "I think it's part of the really good work they do to always be one step in front of the other teams concerning innovation and good ideas and they have the players for it."