Italy brush off spirited Russians
Italy recorded a convincing 53-17 victory over a spirited Russian team who put in a determined performance but were ultimately outclassed in their World Cup Pool C clash at Trafalgar Park in Nelson.
The Italians knew from the start that they were going to win and so they went for tries to make the win as big as possible, at least five pool points’ worth, and they got what they wanted. En route to getting what they wanted Italy played some great rugby, and so did the dauntless Russians who scored their first tries ever at a Rugby World Cup. It was a good night at Trafalgar Park in Nelson with its 12 415 spectators – cold but wind-free and entertaining.
Both sides had a go and it is significant that neither side aimed a single penalty kick at goal – not even the Russians when they had nothing on the scoreboard and easy chances to kick penalties. It was a good, wholesome match.
The Russians, once over their early jitteriness, kept good control of the ball and outdid Italy at the collision but their scrum was more destroyed than you have ever seen an international scrum destroyed – and the Italians revelled in it. They took scrums for penalties, they shoved the Russians back many metres, they won a tighthead and they got a penalty try out of it. Never has the effective Italian scrum been that effective, not even that day when they tortured the All Blacks. There were more scrums than usual in match – 27 in all, 16 put-ins to Italy.
But it went beyond the scrum as the Italian backs were faster and cleverer. Not that the Russians did not make their contributions with fine running by veteran centre Andrei Kuzin and wings Vladimir Ostroushko and big Vasile Artemiev. It went beyond the battered scrum for their loose trio as well, even though they were often on the back foot, Victor Gresev, Andrei Garbuzov and Viatcheslav Grachev turned in great performances against the classy Italians.
Russia kicked off and the ball went dead. Scrum, and Italy shoved them back many metres, an omen. Twice Italy went for the line-out and a maul from penalties. They were right on the attack and went right till Sergio Parisse scored an easy try. 7-0 after 5 minutes. Back they came and made a short, simple overlap for Giulio Toniolatti. 12-0 after 13 minutes.
Big Quintin Geldenhuys won a turnover at a tackle and flyhalf Riccardo Bocchino kicked down on the Italian left where Vladimir Ostroushko could not control the rolling ball. Matteo Pratichetti flicked it back through his legs to his centre partner Tommaso Benvenuti who scored. 17-0 in 16 minutes.
Down, the Russians refused to be downhearted and in fact got better and better from now on. They went through 16 phases but destroyed them with a forward pass. Italy then shoved them more than 10 metres at the scrum.
When Ostroushko was tackled into touch, Luke McLean threw in quickly. Parisse sold a dummy and played inside to Toniolatti on his right and the wing raced over for his second try, Italy’s fourth and so worth a bonus point. 24-0 after 23 minutes.
Then came the cruel sequence of scrum, penalty, scrum, penalty, scrum, penalty try. 31-0 after 28 minutes.
After a great run by Garbuzov, carried on by Gresev, Fabio Ongaro was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle which hurt fullback Igor Klyuchnikov but seemed more miscalculation than malice.
Now came Russia’s great moment. They turned a penalty into a line-out and bashed at the Italian line. Suddenly they freed up the ball and Alexander Yanyushkin forced his way over for a try. The substitute scrumhalf forced his way past Lorenzo Cittadini. Yanyushkin is 1,65 metres tall and weighs 75 kilograms. Cittadini is bigger at 1,91m and 127kg. Much bigger but the little scrumhalf got through him to slam the ball down for Russia’s very first try in a Rugby World Cup. That made it 31-7 after 33 minutes.
Italy attacked and scored from a forceful scrum. The ball went Parisse – Gori – Benvenuti – McLean – Gori, who scored. 38-7 after 37 minutes. That was the score at the end of the entertaining half.
Gori had been excellent when he played quickly but for some reason he often opted for slow ball and lost concentration in the ball’s activities.
Andrea Masi, Italy’s brilliant fullback, attacked whenever he could. He broke, Benvenuti grubbered the ball into ingoal and just got the touchdown. 43-7 after 48 minutes.
From the kick-off the Russians attacked through Gresev and Yanyushkin. They went wide right where an attempted intercept gave Ostroushko room enough to skate round McLean and score. 43-12 after 50 minutes.
McLean got his own back when he got the ball on the far right. It looked a harmless situation but the bearded wing easily beat Alexander Voytov and then two others to score in the right corner. 48-12 with 17 minutes to play.
Russia turned a penalty into a five-metre line-out and attacked with big Artemiev showing the way till inside centre Alexei Makovetskiy scored his side’s third try.
Italian zip had rather faded in this half but they shoved Russia off the ball and Alessandro Zanni, on at No.8, picked up and scored. 53-17 with three minutes to play.
Man of the Match: The Italian scrumming pack was the most effective unit. Both sets of loose forwards were creative, especially our choice Russia’s Victor Gresev – so strong, so intuitively correct, so creative – and the father of a two-day-old daughter.
Moment of the Match: Russia’s historic first try, scored by little Alexander Yanyushkin.
Villain of the Match: Nobody at all.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Parisse, Toniolatti 2, Benvenuti 2, Penalty try, Gori, McLean, Zanni
Cons: Bocchino 4
For Russia:
Tries: Yanyushkin, Ostroushko, Makovetskiy
Con: Rachkov
Yellow card(s): Fabio Ongaro (Italy, 32nd minute – late tackle)
The teams:
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Riccardo Bocchino, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Cornelius van Zyl, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.
Russia: 15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Vasile Artemiev, 13 Andrei Kuzin, 12 Alexei Makovetskiy, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Konstantin Rachkov, 9 Alexander Shakirov, 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Andrei Garbuzov, 6 Viatcheslav Grachev, 5 Adam Byrnes, 4 Alexander Voytov, 3 Ivan Prishchepenko, 2 Vladislav Korshunov (captain), 1 Vladimir Botvinnikov.
Replacements: 16 Valerie Tsnobiladze, 17 Alexander Khrokin, 18 Denis Antonov, 19 Artem Fatahov, 20 Alexander Yanyushkin, 21 Mikhail Sidorov, 22 Yuri Kushnarev.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
By Paul Dobson
