Rugby, Italy strolls, Romania overwhelmed 57-7

Italy defeated Romania 57-7 in San Benedetto del Tronto in the third and penultimate match in preparation for the Rugby World Cup. After the two foreseeable defeats against Scotland and Ireland, coach Kieran Crowley’s team therefore also gets the equally predictable victory against a decidedly inferior opponent. In a week’s time the last test in Treviso with Japan, who last played on 5 August in the Pacif Nations Cup (defeats against Fiji and Samoa, victory against Tonga).

Red in the evening

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It takes 6 minutes for Italy to unblock it: from a scrum in front of the posts, the Azzurri trigger the three-quarters to the right very well, from Paolo Garbisi a fast ball off to Paolo Odogwu, who with a brief acceleration aims for the flag and slips into the try ( the first in blue in the second cap). In the 10th minute a crazy and useless entry into the group costs Adrian Motoc the red card: the second Romanian line goes straight on the shoulder on the head of the blue captain Michele Lamaro and the penalty is inevitable. In the 12th minute, Monty Ioane’s try, left all alone on the left to receive a handy assist from Paolo Garbisi. In the 16th minute the third try was scored by his brother Paolo: after Toa Halfihi’s deep break, it was Nacho Brex who freed the scrum-half’s run towards the posts. In the 20th minute, after having messed up in the 22nd minute due to an excess of confidence, Ange Capuzzo picked up a loose ball deflected by a Romanian after Paolo’s free kick and ran away uncatchable for the fourth try. In the 27th minute Italy quickly beats a free-kick inside the 22, the superiority increases with two injured Romanians, Lamaro from the ground offers the oval to hooker Giacomo Nicotera who stretches to break through. Paolo Garbisi makes 3/5 in transformations. Around the 35th minute a hint of tiredness can be glimpsed and the Azzurri slip in three silly tricks one after the other: first Ioane incomprehensibly decides to kick from the middle of the pitch instead of playing with his teammates, then Niccolò Cannone gets enticed by digging a break and ends to lose the oval, finally Ioane goes too calmly to collect a long kick from the Romanians and collects a very hard tackle that throws him off the pitch. Small signs of a negative moment that is confirmed in the 39th minute: overwhelming maul from the Romanian pack, the Azzurri collapse and Lamaro sinks it irregularly due to the inevitable yellow card and technical goal. And at rest we go to 31-7.

Magic

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Italy restarts with a little suffering, messing up in the 22, until it is Paolo Garbisi who invents the magic that turns everything upside down: the fly-half decides to start again alone, with a nice change of pace he slips into the defense and opens the field up to four against one to free the race under the posts of Brex. In the 46th minute a high tackle, more clumsy than bad, but very violent head against head on Ioane, cost the Romanian captain and number 8 Cristian Chirica a yellow card. In the 54th minute, with an advantage, the Azzurri discover a superiority off the left, the passes of Alessandro Fusco (replaced for Ioane) and Halafihi trigger Capuozzo, who goes over the last opponent in flight and crushes the flag. In the 66th minute the goal of the other native also arrives, the second line Dino Lamb, served by Lamaro with clear superiority on the left. In the 72nd minute the ninth try was signed by Halafihi, who finalized the work of the forwards by hitting from a few steps away. And Garbisi’s transformations in the second half are 3/4.