Italy survive gutsy Romania fightback in Rugby World Cup
Last Updated: 11/10/15 5:14pm
Italy finished their World Cup campaign with a 32-22 victory over a gutsy Romanian side at Exeter's Sandy Park.
Leonardo Sarto, Edoardo Gori and Tommaso Allan crossed for first-half tries and Alessandro Zanni added a fourth for Italy shortly after the break.
Romania then produced a spirited rally from 29-3 down in the last 14 minutes when Adrian Apostol went over for two tries either side of an effort from Valentin Poparlan, however the Oaks were unable to replicate their record-breaking comeback that beat Canada on Tuesday.
The win sees Jacques Brunel's side secure a place in the 2019 tournament, although the Azzurri remain the only top-tier nation never to have qualified for the knockout stage.
It was the Romanians who started the stronger of the two sides. A huge drive from their pack sent the Italy eight backwards at a rate of knots to issue an early warning signal and earn a penalty that Florin Vlaicu duly drilled over with ease.
Italy looked to have scored minutes later after Gori's chip and chase beat Catalin Fercu to the line, but the scrum-half failed to ground the ball
However, it was not long before Italy were rewarded for their opening efforts when Sarto scampered across the try-line on 10 minutes after fine work from Michele Campagnaro down the left wing.
Romania lock Johann van Heerden put his side on the back foot on the quarter of an hour mark when he was sent to the sin-bin for interference and Italy made the most of the extra man, camping down in Romanian territory before Gori dummied and darted over to score.
Romania responded well to the score and created several good scoring opportunities. However, they failed to convert their chances and the Azzurri crossed for their third try shortly before half-time when fly-half Allan spotted a gap and scorched his way through the Romanian defence, taking the half-time score to 22-3.
Italy started the second half in the same fashion as they had finished the first. The TMO adjudged that Josh Furno was held up over the line before Zanni powered his way over from the back of the subsequent five-metre scrum.
Despite the score-line being against them, Romania refused to give up and finished the match strongly.
The services of the TMO were required again in the 65th minute, where from a 5m scrum, Apostol wriggled his way over the line from close range and forced the ball onto the ground.
Allan then slotted a penalty on 69 minutes to extend the Azzurri's lead to a comfortable 22 points.
Romania continued to pile on the pressure late on, though, and repeated infringements from the Italians gifted them two penalties close to the opposition line.
The Oaks got their just rewards after a TMO intervention, where replays showed the grounding of the ball under the hands of Poparlan and, much to the lock's surprise, he was awarded the try.
However, they were not ready to finish their World Cup campaign there and a lovely wide pass from Vlaicu missed out three men to send Apostol in for his second try of the match and sign their tournament off in style.
