Tito Tebaldi crosses for one of Italy's seven tries against Namibia

Italy 47-22 Namibia: Rugby World Cup match report, highlights and scorers

By Press Association

Rugby Union

Sun September 22, 2019 · 5y ago

Seven-try Italy opened their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 47-22 win over Namibia in Higashiosaka.

Italy 47-22 Namibia

Italy tryscorers: Allan, Tebaldi, Padovani, Canna, Polledri, Minozzi, Penalty
Italy conversions: Allan (3), Canna (2)

Namibia tryscorers: Stevens, Greyling, Plato
Namibia conversions: Loubser (2)
Namibia penalties: Loubser

Match highlights:

Italy v Namibia (47-22) | Rugby World Cup 2019 Highlights

Match report:

Italy scored seven tries as they launched their Rugby World Cup campaign with a straightforward 47-22 win over Namibia in Higashiosaka.

Damian Stevens scored an early try for Namibia to hint at an upset but Italy's extra skill and class eventually shone through as they ran out comfortable victors.

Namibia took the lead just five minutes into the Pool B clash through scrum-half Stevens.

Janco Venter gathered the loose ball after an Italian lineout went wrong and after the ball was played down the line, winger Chad Plato broke through three tackles before feeding back inside for Stevens to run in under the posts.

Italy drew level five minutes later through a penalty try after Namibia collapsed a scrum five metres out.

The Azzurri went ahead after 25 minutes when Luca Morisi broke the defensive line and the ball was worked back inside for fly-half Tommaso Allan to run onto the ball at pace and crash over.

Three quick tries either side of half-time effectively put the game to bed.

A fine no-look pass from second row Federico Ruzza sent in Tito Tebaldi at the end of the first half before Tommaso Benvenuti's crossfield kick was picked up by Edoardo Padovani to slide in. Carlo Canna then went over following a ruck.

JC Greyling scored in the corner for Namibia but Italy finished strong and Jake Polledri peeled off the back of the maul to crash over and Matteo Minozzi coasted in after Italy spread the ball wide from a lineout.

Plato then burst clear for a late consolation for the battling Namibians.

Match reaction:

Italy coach Conor O'Shea was far from impressed with his side's performance in their Rugby World Cup Group B opener against Namibia despite the 47-22 victory.

Italy scored seven tries at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium but will need to raise their standards with games against South Africa and New Zealand to come.

O'Shea said: "We'll have to move on from that pretty quickly. It wasn't very pretty. There was too many errors in it and it was difficult conditions at times in the second half, which doesn't excuse it.

"We're disappointed with the way we played. We have a job to do in these first two games and you know that's not the true version of us, but we'll improve massively by the time we come to Thursday."

Italy face Canada on Thursday and O'Shea is keen to switch focus to that game.

He added: "It's a quick turnaround and you make lots of changes when you have the game in the bag that sometimes you shouldn't but you lose the continuity you might have started to build up.

"We just didn't get the pace into the game that we wanted. It was difficult out there and credit to Namibia anyway, but we'll take five points and we'll move on quickly."

Namibia coach Phil Davies was delighted with his side's performance as they ran in three tries in defeat.

He said: "I'm very proud of the players, the way we adapted to the speed of the game, some of the tries we scored and some of the resolute defence.

"You know I was really happy, but credit to Italy, you know, they put a bit of pressure on and scored at crucial times and they deserve the win."