Pool C, Trafalgar Park, Nelson, 11deg, dry. 6.30pm kick-off NZT. Attendance: 13000 Final result: Italy 27-10 USA
By winning tonight against the Americans, the Azzurri have set a Pool C showdown against Ireland on Sunday, the winner joining the Wallabies in the quarter-finals. This was a fiery contest with a lot of aggro at the breakdown as the Italians were getting frustrated and impatient. A 4th minute try by captain Sergio Parisse made them think it was going to be a walk in the park…and it wasn’t! Although they were dominated at scrum-time like they have been at all matches, the Eagles played with such enthusiasm that they stayed in the game till the last 10 minutes. But indiscipline did cost them a lot and they got penalised numerous times. Finally, after 75 minutes of total hammering at the scrum, the Italian got a well deserved penalty try as well as bonus point, putting the score beyond Americans’ reach.
Italy will travel to Dunedin on Sunday with the belief that Ireland are not superior to them, and they are probably right. Let’s not forget that they got very close from an upset during the last 6 Nations tournament… Great battle ahead!
Full-time score: Italy 27 (Tries: Parisse, Orquera, Castrogiovanni, Penalty try ; 1 pen & 2 convs: Bergamasco ) – USA 10 (Tries: Wyles ; 1 pen & 1 conv: Wyles)
Teams:
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (cap), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Bench: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Luke McLean.
USA: 15 Chris Wyles, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 James Paterson, 10 Roland Suniula, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Nic Johnson, 7 Todd Clever (cap), 6 Louis Stanfill, 5 Hayden Smith, 4 John van der Giessen, 3 Matekitonga Moeakiola, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Bench: 16 Phil Thiel, 17 Shawn Pittman, 18 Scott LaValla, 19 Pat Danahy, 20 Tim Usasz, 21 Nese Malifa, 22 Blaine Scully.