Italy made a positive start to their Rugby World Cup campaign when they notched a 47-22 bonus-point win over Namibia in Higashiosaka on Sunday.
Despite the big winning margin, the Azzurri were made to work for this result as Namibia were competitive for long periods.
But in the end, the Azzurri had to much firepower for their opponents and eventually outscored them by seven tries to three. Tommaso Allan, Tito Tebaldi, Edoardo Padovani, Carlo Canna, Jake Polledri and Matteo Minozzi all dotted down while Allan (3) and Canna (2) added conversions.
Damian Stevens, JC Greyling and Chad Plato scored tries for Namibia and Cliven Loubser added two conversions and a penalty.
Namibia had the better of the early exchanges and took the lead in the sixth minute courtesy of a fine try from Stevens. This, after an Italian lineout went awry close to the halfway line and Torsten van Jaarsveld pounced on the loose ball before setting up a phase just inside his opponents’ half.
The ball was shifted wide to Plato, who set off on a blistering run down the right-hand touchline which had Italy’s defence at sixes and sevens. He got a pass out to Darryl De la Harpe and he did well to offload to Stevens, who rounded off with a spectacular dive.
Loubser added the extras which meant the Welwitschias had their tails up with the score 7-0 in their favour.
Their joy was short-lived, however, as Italy drew level by the 10th minute when referee Nic Berry awarded a penalty try after Namibia capitulated under great pressure at a scrum on their five-metre line.
That score was a shot in the arm for the Azzurri, who held a slight edge during the rest of the half. In the 25th minute they took the lead when Luca Morisi set off on a 40-metre run before being brought to ground five metres short of Namibia’s try-line. From the ensuing ruck, Tebaldi got a pass out to Allan, who crashed over under the posts before slotting the conversion which gave his side a 14-7 lead.
The rest of the half was a scrappy affair, although the Azzurri extended their lead on the stroke of half-time when Tebaldi crossed for their third try after gathering a superb offload from Federico Ruzza in the build-up.
Allan’s conversion was successful which meant Italy held a 21-7 lead at half-time.
FT: After an impressive performance, @Federugby get the win beating Namibia 47-22 #ITAvNAM #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/wGiW2u4Di3
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 22, 2019
The second half started brightly for the Azzurri when Padovani gathered a perfectly weighted grubber kick from Benvenuti before scoring his side’s bonus-point try in the 45th minute, and they went further ahead when Canna dotted down shortly afterwards.
Despite those setbacks, Namibia did not surrender and another Loubser penalty was followed by a try from Greyling, who scored out wide after running onto a well-timed pass from his fly-half.
Italy soon regained the initiative and they dominated during the latter stages of the match. In the 66th minute, Polledri crossed the whitewash off the back of a lineout drive before Minozzi sealed their win with his try five minutes later.
Namibia would finish stronger, however, and were rewarded with a superb try from Plato in the game’s closing stages.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Penalty try, Allan, Tebaldi, Padovani, Canna, Polledri, Minozzi
Cons: Allan 3, Canna 2
For Namibia:
Tries: Stevens, Greyling, Plato
Cons: Loubser 2
Pen: Loubser
Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Edoardo Padovani, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Maxime Mbandà, 6 Braam Steyn, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Simone Ferrari, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Dean Budd, 20 Jake Polledri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Matteo Minozzi
Namibia: 15 Johan Tromp, 14 Chad Plato, 13 Justin Newman, 12 Darryl De la Harpe, 11 JC Greyling, 10 Cliven Loubser, 9 Damian Stevens, 8 Janco Venter, 7 Wian Conradie, 6 Rohan Kitshoff, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi (c), 4 PJ Van Lill, 3 Johannes Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Andre Rademeyer
Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 AJ De Klerk, 18 Nelius Theron, 19 Johan Retief, 20 Max Katjijeko, 21 Eugene Jantjies, 22 Helarius Axasman Kisting, 23 Lesley Klim
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
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