Italy come back to beat Romania
Pez kicked 11 points to help Italy come from behind
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Wednesday, 12, Sep 2007 09:50
Italy gained the first win of their Rugby World Cup campaign, beating Romania 24-18 in their pool C encounter in Marseille.
Romania caused Italy some difficulties, and were ahead briefly, but 11 points from the boot of Ramiro Pez helped the Azurri to a vital win.
The Italians harbour hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals and needed to win after being defeated 76-14 by New Zealand at the weekend.
They started well and crossed the whitewash after six minutes thanks to Santiago Dellape. David Bortolussi added a penalty after 14 minutes but they failed to gain any more points during a scrappy first half.
After the break Romania began to take the game to their more illustrious rivals.
Alexandru Manta and Marius Tincu scored a try each in the opening seven minutes of the half to give the minnows a 12-10 lead.
This shook Italy into life and they restored their advantage after a concerted period of pressure near the Romanian try-line earned them a penalty try. Pez converted to give the Italians a five-point lead 55 minutes into the match.
Having let their unexpected lead slip, indiscipline then crept into the Romanian's game.
Three penalties in ten minutes allowed Pez to extend Italy's lead and although Ionut Dimofte replied with two penalties for Romania, Italy held on for victory.
The Azurri face Portugal on September 19th before a crucial game against Scotland on September 29th that could decide a quarter-final place.