Italy 31 Georgia 22

Italy made hard work of a tough Georgia side when the two countries met at the Stadio Comunale Censin Bosia in the Italian town of Asti in a pre-World Cup Test, with the Azzurri taking the spoils by a 31-22 margin only.

The sides were tied 13-13 at the break, and the Lelos of Georgia even had to battle on without their full numbers, after fullback Bessik Khamashuridze and lock Zurab Mtchedlishvili were both sin-binned -- Khamashuridze then being red-carded later in the match.

Italian props Leandro Castrogiovanni and Andrea Lo Cicero scored first-half tries to add to a Ramiro Pez penalty, while Lelos wing Makho Urjukashvili scored their only try of the game on the half hour mark.

The second half saw Italy score tries through their two most-capped players of all time, captain Alessandro Troncon and back rower Carlo Checchinato.

Georgia, meanwhile, had the boot of fly-half Pavle Jimsheladze to thank for the majority of their points with a string of penalties and a conversion for their try, while centre Makho Urjukashvili dropped a goal during the physical encounter.

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Ramiro Pez, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 12 Giovanni Raineri, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Carlo Festuccia, Gert Peens, Mauro Bergamasco, Carlo Checchinato, Salvatore Perugini, Juan Manuel Queirolo
Unused:  Vincenzo Zullo

Georgia:  1 Avtandil Kopaliani, 2 Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 3 Aleko Margvelashvili, 4 Victor Didebulidze, 5 Zurab Mtchedlishvili, 6 George Chkhaidze, 7 Gregoire Yachvili, 8 Ilia Zedguinidze (c), 9 Irakli Abusseridze, 10 Paliko Jimsheladze, 11 Makho Urjukashvili, 12 Irakli Guiorgadze, 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 14 Irakli Machkhaneli, 15 Bessik Khamashuridze
Reserves:  David Dadunashvili, Vano Nadiradze, Gocha Khonelidze, David Kiknadze, Goderdzi Shvelidze, Guia Labadze, Irakli Modebadze

Attendance:  6000
Referee:  Ramage i.

Points Scorers:

Italy
Tries:  Troncon A. 1, Lo Cicero A. 1, Castrogiovanni M.L. 1, Checchinato C. 1
Conv:  Pez R. 1
Pen K.:  Pez R. 3

Georgia
Tries:  Urjukashvili M. 1
Conv:  Jimsheladze P. 1
Pen K.:  Jimsheladze P. 4
Drop G.:  Urjukashvili M. 1