Uruguay fall short against Italy ‘A’

Italy ‘A’ were 31-13 winners over Uruguay today. The non-capped international was the first of two occasions wherein Uruguay take-on Italy prior to their RWC 2023 meeting. Uruguay rotated heavily for the match today and the home side put on a strong performance to complete a convincing victory.

Italy ‘A’ started the match strongly. After just four minutes the Europeans were on the scorecard. Flanker Lorenzo Cannone went over for the opening try. Leonardo Marin added the conversion to give Italy ‘A’ a 7-0 lead.

Felipe Etcheverry got three points back for Los Teros. His 9th minute penalty was Uruguay’s only score of the opening half. The remainder of the first half was all about Italy ‘A’. Pierre Bruno ran in Italy ‘A’ second try and fellow winger, Fijian, Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara went over for the third.

Italy ‘A’ had a commanding half-time lead. It was expanded up straight away as replacement Nicolò Casilio ran in the European’s fourth try. The score furthered the outcome of the contest.

The next Italian try followed two from the South Americans. Hooker Guillermo Pujadas went over for a double. The Peñarol hooker went into the try zone in the 56th and 67th minutes. Jacopo Trulla’s try restored a comfortable lead for the home side.

While today’s match was uncapped, it was a warm-up for the RWC and for next weekend. Italy play host to Uruguay in a fully capped international in Parma next Saturday. The winner will take bragging rights with them to France. The teams will meet in Nice, France on September 20, 2023 in a pool match.

 

SCORING

ITALY ‘A’ 31
Try – L.Cannone (4′), P. Bruno (25′), I. Ratuva Tavuyara (31′), N. Casilio (41′), J. Trulla (75′)
Con – L. Marin (27′, 33′), A. Rizzi (76′)

URUGUAY 13
Try – G. Pujadas 2 (56′, 67′)
Pen – F. Etcheverry (9′)

 

TEAMS

ITALY ‘A’
1 Cherif Traoré (17 Paolo Buonfiglio 54′-78′), 2 Giacomo Nicotera (16 Federico Zani 54′), 3 Filippo Alongi (18 Ion Neculai HT), 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Andrea Zambonin (19 Leonard Krumov 54′), 6 Alessandro Izekor, 7 Lorenzo Cannone (20 Matteo Meggiato 74′), 8 Braam Steyn (capt.), 9 Marcello Violi (21 Nicolò Casilio HT), 10 Leonardo Marin (22 Antonio Rizzi 64′), 11 Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara, 12 Filippo Drago (23 Enrico Lucchin 66′), 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 14 Pierre Bruno, 15 Jacopo Trulla

URUGUAY
1 Juan Echeverría (17 Mateo Perillo 43′), 2 Facundo Gattas (16 Guillermo Pujadas 52′), 3 Ignacio Péculo (18 Diego Arbelo 43′), 4 Juanjuan Garese, 5 Felipe Aliaga, 6 Franco Lamanna, 7 Santiago Civetta (19 Eric Dosantos 48′), 8 Manuel Diana (20 Carlos Deus 56′), 9 Tomás Inciarte, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolás Freitas (capt.), 12 Juan Manuel Alonso (23 Rodrigo Silva 43′), 13 Felipe Arcos Pérez, 14 Mateo Viñals, 15 Baltazar Amaya (22 Juan Manuel Tafernaberry 66′)

Not used: 21 Manuel Ardao

 

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistants: Adam Leal (England) & Adam Jones (Wales)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)