Italy scrape by valiant Canada

Canada suffered a heartbreaking 23-18 defeat at the hands of Italy at Elland Road on Saturday. The North Americans played the more expansive rugby, but ultimately it was the power of the pack – and some questionable officiating – that saved the game for the Azzurri.

The Canucks got off to a terrific start, showing their intent to play attacking rugby straight away. The result was an opening penalty for Nathan Hirayama, and then the magic started. DTH van der Merwe gathered the kickoff and went clear through the line, passing to Ciaran Hearn who dragged in three defenders before offloading back to van der Merwe for a sensational try. The routine conversion gave the men in red an unlikely 10 point lead with only 15 minutes on the clock.

Italy could not have conjured a better reply. Edoardo Gori found a gap and raced away, just barely stopped before the line, but Michele Rizzo was on hand to pick up the scraps and rumble over for a similarly cracking try. Tommaso Allan added the extras, and then a penalty a few minutes later to draw the scores level. That sparked the Azzurri, and they continued to threaten until at last Allan slotted another three-pointer to bring up the half with Italy just ahead.

The second half saw Canada revitalised and they poured on the attack once again. A lovely set piece move from a lineout put Matt Evans into space, and the fullback raced away for a scintillating score to put Canada back in the lead. The conversion was missed, but moments after the restart Canada regained possession and Phil Mackenzie looked to be away down the right side. George Clancy went to the TMO but despite the hands of Conor Trainor appearing to go backwards, the pass was ruled forward and Italy breathed a sigh of relief.

The misfortune seemed to deflate Canada slightly, and Italy moved down the pitch deep into enemy territory. From the lineout, they lunged ahead with the big men before finally releasing to the backs, but it didn’t go far as inside centre Gonzalo García found a surprise gap in the line to dive over for a critical score. Allan had no trouble with the conversion, and Italy were away by five.

Canada regained their composure and sent everything at the blue wall, and again they were met with both tacklers and bizarre rulings. A wide ball pushed Phil Mackenzie close to the line, but assistant referee Glen Jackson ruled that he had stepped into touch before passing despite the replay showing that he was nowhere near the paint. Another attack looked certain to result in a try, only for Leonardo Sarto’s hand to slap the ball down, a close call ruled not to be deliberate.

With eight minutes to play a penalty in front of the sticks came, and Tyler Ardron opted to take the three points instead of going for the try. It was a decision that he no doubt regretted at the final whistle. A mistake handed Italy the ball from the kickoff, and they never relinquished possession, grinding out the clock and handing Allan his third penalty on full time.

Canada will take heart from a much improved performance, but will rue the missed opportunities and an inability to turn pressure into points. They now move on to face France in Milton Keynes on Thursday. Italy’s hopes for automatic qualification, and perhaps even a quarter-final spot, remain intact as they play Ireland at the Olympic Stadium in London on Sunday.

ITALY 23
Tries – M. Rizzo (17), G. García (58)
Cons – T. Allan 2 (18, 59)
Pens – T. Allan 3 (25, 40, 80)

CANADA 18
Try – D. van der Merwe (15), M. Evans (44)
Cons – Hirayama (16)
Pens – Hirayama 2 (14, 72)

ITALY
1 M. Rizzo (M. Agüero 46) 2 L. Ghiraldini (capt.) (D. Giazzon 59) 3 L. Cittadini (M. Castrogiovanni 46) 4 Q. Geldenhuys (M. Fuser 79) 5 J. Furno 6 A. Zanni 7 F. Minto 8 S. Vunisa (M. Bergamasco 58) 9 E. Gori 10 T. Allan (C. Canna 32-39) 11 G. Venditti 12 G. García (G. Palazzani 72) 13 T. Benvenuti (M. Campagnaro 59) 14 L. Sarto 15 L. McLean

CANADA
1 H. Buydens (D. Sears-Duru 55) 2 R. Barkwill (A. Carpenter 57) 3 D. Wooldridge (A. Tiedemann 65) 4 J. Sinclair 5 J. Cudmore (E. Olmstead 72) 6 N. Dala (K. Gilmour 59) 7 J. Moonlight 8 T. Ardron (capt.) 9 J. Mackenzie (P. Mack 55) 10 N. Hirayama (H. Jones 73) 11 D. van der Merwe 12 C. Braid (C. Trainor 14) 13 C. Hearn 14 P. Mackenzie 15 M. Evans