Italy squeeze past Portugal
Marco Bortolami's side have struggled so far at the World Cup
Thursday, 20, Sep 2007 09:48
Italy made hard work of claiming victory over a hard-working Portugal side at the Rugby World Cup, 31-5.
Two late tries from Andrea Masi and Mauro Bergamasco helped give the scoreline a more flattering edge, but in truth the Azzurri looked troubled by the industrious pool C minnows.
The early stages of the match were promising for Italy, who controlled possession and dominated the territorial exchanges early on.
Centre Masi crossed the whitewash after only three minutes to give the Six Nations side the lead, but for all their early pressure Italy failed to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
After looking to kick to the corners and use their powerful pack to force another score Italy saw skipper Marco Bortolami sin-binned for an apparent punch just four minutes later, although replays were inconclusive.
This forced the Italians onto the back foot and David Bortolussi kicked three penalties before half-time to move them clear of Portugal.
However David Penalva went over for a deserved Portuguese try after 32 minutes to rapturous cheers from a partisan home crowd to make the score 16-5 at the break.
After the interval Portugal's defence continued to stand firm to repel each and every Italian attack, although the Azzurri were guilty of a number of handling errors and repeatedly turned the ball over.
Nevertheless, credit must go to Portugal for a battling performance which caused problems for the lacklustre Italians, who looked devoid of attacking ideas – something that will please Scotland supporters ahead of their do-or-die clash next weekend.
The two late scores can be attributed more to Portugal's tired limbs than any new invention from Italy, as first Bergamasco then Masi went over.
But it was not enough to secure a bonus point, keeping Italy third in the group behind the Scots and New Zealand, who meet at Murrayfield on Sunday.