Italy beats United States in third match of Rugby World Cup 2011
Italy secured a much needed victory against USA Eagles with a handsome margin of 27-10 on September 27 in Nelson. The United States played well in the early part of the first-half but later on surrendered to the Italians.
It was a must win game for Italy to qualify for the quarter-final stages and they rightly lined up a strong side. Their coach, Nick Mallett, decided to take no risk in a valuable match unlike the USA Eagles. The Eagles had nothing to loose in the match and
they featured wholesale changes to their side. The United States head coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, made 14 changes from the side which lost to Australia.
Italy started off the match as favourites but they were made to work very hard to overwhelm their rivals. Their forward bunches forced the Eagles on to the back foot very early in the match and tore apart their defence in the third minute with a well executed
try by Sergio Parisse. Mirco Bergamasco helped his side with a conversion goal and put his men at a 7-0 lead.
After struggling with the ball, the Eagles managed to level the score in the 19th minute of the game. Chris Wyles scored the first try for his team and converted it by himself. This had turned into a very good clash for the crowd as both sides
were making all possible efforts to score some quick points.
Italy once again took a slight lead of 10-7 over the Eagles but could not maintain it for too long. However, they ended the first part of the match with comprehensive lead of 20-10 with two quick tries in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Overall, it
was not a convincing effort by the Italian side. They were clearly lacking in consistency and committed too many errors in the defence.
The second half had no more entertainment for the crowd as it went on scoreless for 25 minutes. Italy scored a penalty try during the 66th minute of the match whereas Bergamasco sealed the victory with a conversion goal for his team. Italy secured
a much needed victory with 27-10 in the end.
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