Italy had to work hard to beat a disciplined Japan team 36-12 in a World Cup warm-up on Saturday.
Italy made a good start and soon roared into a 22-0 lead with a David Bortolussi penalty and three tries, two from Marko Stanojevic and one from Kaine Robertson.
But Japan, coached by former Italy boss John Kirwan, began to find their feet in a match played in the Alpine town of St Vincent.
Tatsukichi Nishiura touched down for a try that was converted by Kosuko Endo and then flanker Hare Makiri also scored a try which brought the score back to 22-12.
The visitors could not make further in-roads against an Italy team that struggled for much of the second half.
However, the hosts did put some distance between them and their visitors with two late tries.
Andrea Lo Cicero and Mauro Bergamasco were the scorers with Bortolussi slotting both conversions to give coach Pierre Berbizier a comfortable victory margin.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Stanojevic 2, Robertson, Lo Cicero, Mauro Bergamasco
Cons: Bortolussi 4
Pen: Bortolussi
For Japan:
Tries: Nishiura, Makiri
Cons: Endo
The teams:
Italy: 15 David Bortolussi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Marko Stanojevic, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Santiago Dellapè, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Valerio Bernabò, 19 Manoa Vosawai, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Andrea Masi, 22 Roland De Marigny.
Japan: 15 Bryce Robins, 14 Kosuke Endo, 13 Yuta Imamura, 12 Shotaro Onishi, 11 Christian Loamanu, 10 Eiji Ando, 9 Tomoki Yoshida, 8 Takuro Miuchi (captain), 7 Philip O'Reilly, 6 Hare Makiri, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Tomokazu Soma, 2 Yuji Matsubara, 1 Tatsukichi Nishiura.
Replacements: 16 Taku Inokuchi, 17 Ryo Yamamura, 18 Samurai Vatuvei, 19 Ryota Asano, 20 Kim Chul-Won, 21 Kousei Ono, 22 Go Aruga
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
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