WP XV too strong for Italy
A Western Province XV played Italy Under-19 at City Park in Cape Town and beat them 45-12 on Friday afternoon.
The team called the Western Province XV was really a pick-up team. There were three players who had been to Craven Week –
Duncan Saal, Gavin van der Berg, Shane Farmer – and all of them were on the bench. There were six players who had been to the Academy Week – Tiaan Swanepoel, Taigh Schoor, Johan Visser, Carlu Sadie, Colwyn Manchest and Mujaahid van der Hoven.
The wind was unpleasant and was behind Italy in the first half but the Western Province XV were too fast for Italy and even though guilty of some feeble tackling simply outscored them – six tries to two. Tiaan Swanepoel's goal-kicking, even into the wind, was immaculate.
The home team were leading 21-0 before first Federico Cicuttin and then Giovanni Pettinelli scored tries for Italy to make the score 21-12 and suggest that Italy were in with a chance. But after that Western Province pulled away through a penalty and three more tries, two by lively scrumhalf Grant Williams.
The try which Taigh van Scoor scored at the end may just have been the best try of the match.
Scorers:
For Western Province XV:
Tries: HJ Luus, Mujaahid van der Hoven, Duncan Saal, Grant Williams 2, Taigh Schoor
Cons: Tiaan Swanepoel 6
Pen: Tiaan Swanepoel
For Italy:
Tries: Federico Cicuttin, Giovanni Pettinelli
Con: Edward Reeves
Teams:
WP Under-18 XV: 15 Tiaan Swanepoel, 14 William Seegers, 13 Taigh Schoor, 12 Mujaahid van der Hoven, 11 Ryan Muller, 10 Carlton Goodman, 9 Grant Williams, 8 HJ Luus (captain), 7 Joel Paarwater, 6 Johan Visser, 5 Ernst van Rhyn, 4 Waldo van Rensburg, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Colwyn Manchest, 1 Dillon Bartie.
Replacements: 16 Shane Farmer, 17 Gavin van den Berg, 18 Adriaan Geldenhuys, 19 Conrad Eloff, 20 Dieter Leicher, 21 Duncan Saal, 22 George Lourens, 23 Zondi Zayedwa.
Italy Under-19: 15 Lorenzo Masato, 14 Francesco Failla, 13 Daniele Grosso, 12 Vittorio Musso, 11 Luca Della Vecchia, 10 Edward Reeves, 9 Riccardo Raffaele, 8 Jake Polledri, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli (captain), 6 Samuel Montieri, 5 David Ciotoli, 4 Massimiliano Chiappini, 3 Alessandro Casini, 2 Niccolo Broglia, 1 Giovanni Amendola
Replacements: 16 Dino Dallavalle, 17 Antonio Barducci, 18 Alessandro Florio, 19 Gustavo Mozzato, 20 Dario Basha, 21 Ugo D'onofrio, 22 Matteo Ferrari, 23 Alessandro Via, 24 Federico Cicuttin, 25 Federico Banzato
Referee: Jamie Leahy (England)