Italy trounced 14-man Romania – who lost lock Adrian Motoc early on – running in a whopping nine tries to one en route to a 57-7 triumph in San Benedetto del Tronto on Saturday.
It was a clinical performance from the home side, who dominated for long periods, but their task was made much easier after referee Luke Pearce issued a red card to Motoc in the 10th minute, after he led with his head while clearing out Italy captain Michele Lamaro at a ruck.
In the end, the Azzurri had too much class for the Oaks with Ange Capuozzo leading the way with a brace of tries while Paolo Odogwu, Monty Ioane, Alessandro Garbisi, Giacomo Nicotera, Juan Ignacio Brex, Dino Lamb and Toa Halafihi also crossed the whitewash.
Paolo Garbisi also succeeded with six conversions while Romania’s only points came via a penalty try as Italy clinched their first victory of the year.
The Azzurri were in control of proceedings from the outset and opened the scoring as early as the sixth minute when Odogwu did well to escape the attentions of two defenders ― after Paolo Garbisi found him with a well-timed skip pass ― before crossing in the right-hand corner.
The latter failed with the conversion attempt but Italy continued to hold the upper and things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Motoc received his marching orders soon after.
With a one-man advantage, the home side upped the ante on attack and soon after Motoc’s departure fly-half Paolo Garbisi offloaded to Ioane, who had an easy run-in over the try-line.
Italy continued to dominate as the half progressed and were rewarded with their third try in the 16th minute when scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi outpaced the cover defence before dotting down.
The older Garbisi added the extras which meant the Azzurri were holding a 19-0 lead before Capuozzo got his name onto the scoresheet with a breakaway try from just inside his half midway through the opening period.
The hosts continued to attack and in the 28th minute Nicotera ran onto a pass from Lamaro before burrowing his way over the try-line from close quarters.
10 minutes later, the Oaks made a rare attack inside Italy’s half and they were soon camped inside the hosts’ 22. They put plenty of pressure on the Azzurri before being rewarded a penalty try after a cynical defensive foul from Lamaro close to his try-line.
🇮🇹🇷🇴 Italy make light work of Romania in San Benedetto del Tronto to seal their first win of the year! #ITAvROM #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/wtuDUkgI0C
― Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 19, 2023
That meant the teams changed sides with Italy holding a 31-7 lead but despite having their captain in the sin bin, the Azzurri were fastest out of the blocks after the restart when Brex rounded off a flowing move which Paolo Garbisi started inside his own half.
Soon after that, Romania were reduced to 13 men when Cristian Chirica was yellow carded after a clash of heads while tackling Ioane. That happened in the 46th minute and eight minutes later the home side were rewarded when Capuozzo crossed for his second try in spectacular fashion out wide.
In the 66th minute, relentless pressure from the Azzurri resulted in a converted try from Lamb which brought up a half century of points before Halafihi crossed for their final try in the 72nd minute ― which Garbisi also converted ― to seal an emphatic win.
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