Italy were made to work extremely hard by Uruguay but their greater quality told in the second half as they emerged with a 38-17 victory in the Rugby World Cup Pool A encounter.
The Uruguayans were much the better side in the first half and deservedly went 17-7 ahead at the interval through Nicolas Freitas’ score, a penalty try and Felipe Etcheverry’s drop-goal.
Lorenzo Pani had initially given the Azzurri the lead but it wasn’t until the start of the second period when they finally got to grips with the game.
They took advantage of Andres Vilaseca’s yellow card to touch down twice while the centre was off the field through Michele Lamaro and Monty Ioane.
Lorenzo Cannone then went over to complete the bonus-point and Juan Ignacio Brex made sure of the victory with 20 minutes remaining.
That put them to the top of their group ahead of their huge match with New Zealand where a win will take them into the quarter-finals for the first time ever.
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Los Teros were exceptional in their opening encounter against France and they were similarly impressive in the opening half on Wednesday.
Italy attempted to stamp their mark on the encounter early, putting pressure on in the scrum and taking play inside the opposition 22.
Under pressure, the South Americans eventually folded with Pani on hand to touch down and give his side the advantage.
Kieran Crowley’s men continued to move the ball with pace but Uruguay were often alive to the situation and they benefited from the Azzurri’s overambition.
Captain Lamaro was surprisingly the culprit when the openside’s pass was easily intercepted by Etcheverry.
That moment set off a series of events which led to a pair of Italy yellow cards and Los Teros taking the lead into the interval.
Etcheverry was brought to ground five metres out but Italy began to infringement with regularity and it ended in Niccolo Cannone being sin-binned.
Instead of going for the posts, the Uruguayans opted to kick for touch and as they surged towards the line, Danilo Fischetti illegally brought down the maul, leading to a yellow card and penalty try.
Down two important forwards, the Azzurri would concede again. They initially handled that period well but the superb Los Teros increased the intensity and Freitas was on hand to cross the whitewash.
🇺🇾 A well-worked try for Nicolas Freitas earlier. #ITAvURU #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/9fiSlxlwf5
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) September 20, 2023
Cannone and Fischetti returned but Crowley’s charges would find themselves 10 points behind at the break through Etcheverry’s drop-goal.
The Italian head coach needed a response from his charges at the start of the second period and they received a boost when Vilaseca was sin-binned for a glancing blow on the head of Pani.
It would prove to be the turning point as the Azzurri sensed their opportunity and began to dominate the game.
Lamaro’s first try in international rugby brought Italy back into the contest before Ioane crossed the whitewash to take them ahead.
Italy very much had the momentum and they struck the decisive blow when Lorenzo Cannone crossed the whitewash for a 28-17 lead.
Uruguay would not recover and Brex went over to increase their buffer before Paolo Garbisi’s late penalty rubberstamped the win.
The teams
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Giovanni Pettinelli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Paolo Odogwu
Uruguay: 15 Baltazar Amaya, 14 Gaston Mieres, 13 Tomas Inciarte, 12 Andres Vilaseca (c), 11 Nicolas Freitas, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 9 Santiago Arata, 8 Manuel Diana, 7 Santiago Civetta, 6 Manuel Ardao, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 2 German Kessler, 1 Mateo Sanguinetti
Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Agustin Ormaechea, 22 Felipe Berchesi, 23 Bautista Basso
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Tom Foley (England)
READ MORE: Rugby World Cup team tracker: All the line-ups for another blockbuster week of action
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