Italy crush Russia in 13-try rout
MATCH REPORT: Captain Sergio Parisse touched down on his return as Italy ran in 13 tries for an 85-15 victory over Russia in their second World Cup warm-up clash in San Benedetto del Tronto on Saturday.
The veteran Azzurri skipper did not feature in last Saturday’s 29-10 defeat to Ireland, but came into the side as one of 14 changes, as Italy prepare for the tournament in Japan in just over a month’s time.
The 35-year-old, who earned his 139th international cap, slotted down the second try as the Italians ran in five in the first half adding a further eight after the break to inflict a record defeat on the Russians.
The Argentina-born No.8 joins Australian George Gregan as the third most capped international, behind New Zealand’s Richie McCaw, 148, and Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll, 141.
Matteo Minozzi, the only player to keep his starting place from the Ireland game, scored a hat-trick of tries with Mattia Bellini and Edoardo Padovani getting two apiece.
Benetton flyhalf Tommaso Allan accounted for 17 points for his side with six conversions and a second-half try.
Russia had shown early promise with Ramil Gaisin’s penalty goal getting the 20th-ranked visitors off the mark first after four minutes on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
But Gloucester flank Jake Polledri burst through four minutes later to set up Luca Morisi for Italy’s first try with Allan converting.
Eight minutes later Polledri again found a way through for Parisse with another Allan conversion, giving the hosts a 14-3 lead.
Kirill Golosnitskiy took advantage of an Azzurri lapse on 18 minutes to keep Russia in touch with a try for 14-8.
But Mattia Bellini’s two quick-fire tries on 25 and 28 minutes powered the Italians ahead with Minozzi adding a fifth just before the break.
Jayden Hayward (41), Allan (42) and Simone Ferrari(48) added three more after the break before Parisse came off handing the captain’s armband to Alessandro Zanni.
Replacement Edoardo Padovani added two more on 57 and 67 minutes, along with Carlo Canna before the final whistle just after the Bogdan Fedotko got a second try for Russia with Yury Kushnarev converting.
Italy plays France on August 30 and England the following Friday in pre-tournament warm-ups, before facing defending champions New Zealand, South Africa, Namibia and Canada in their World Cup group.
Lyn Jones’ Russia face hosts Japan before playing Samoa, Ireland and Scotland in their pool.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Minozzi 3, Parisse, Allan, Bellini 2, Padovani 2, Morisi, Howard, Ferrari, Padovani
Cons: Allan 6, Canna 4
For Russia:
Tries: Golosnitskiy, Fedotko
Con: Gaisin
Pen: Gaisin
Teams
Italy: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Matteo Minozzi, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Braam Steyn, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 David Sisi, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Ferdico Zani, 17 Simone Ferrari, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Edoardo Padovani.
Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev (captain), 14 German Davydov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Kirill Golosnitsky; 10 Ramil Gaysin, 9 Dmitry Perov; 8 Viktor Gresev, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 6 Andrey Ostrikov; 5 Andrey Garbuzov, 4 Nikita Vavilin; 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Stanislay Selsky, 1 Valeri Morozov.
Replacements: 16 Evgeni Matveev, 17 Andrey Polivalov, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Bogdan Fedotko, 20 Vitaly Zhivatov, 21 Vasily Dorofeev, 22 Yuri Kushnarev, 23 Vladislav Sozonov
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
