Italy nilled by Samoa

Editor

Samoa fly-half Tusi Pisi kicked five penalties in his side's 15-0 victory over struggling Italy at Apia Park on Saturday.

Samoa fly-half Tusi Pisi kicked five penalties in his side's 15-0 victory over struggling Italy at Apia Park on Saturday.

The result follows the Azzurri's loss to Fiji last weekend to round off a poor year in Test rugby so far.

Pisi made them pay with five successful kicks as Samoa responded from their surprising 18-18 draw with Tonga last weekend.

The former Hurricanes number ten landed four of his penalties in the first half to leave the Italian chasing the scoreboard in tough conditions.

The win certainly isn't of character for Samoa given that this was their fifth victory over Italy in six meetings, but they would have expected a greater threat from their visitors.

Italy have now lost their last eight matches going back to last November, an unwanted record for Jacques Brunel heading into the Rugby World Cup.

The scorers:

For Samoa:
Pens: Pisi 5

For Italy:

Samoa: 15 Faatoina Autagavaia, 14 Fautua Otto, 13 George Pisi, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 David Lemi (capt), 10 Tusiata Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Kane Thompson, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Daniel Leo, 4 Faatiga Lemalu, 3 James Johnston, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 Wayne Ole Avei, 17 Census Johnston, 18 Sakaria Taulafo, 19 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 20 Piula Fa'asalele, 21 Patrick Fa'apale, 22 Vavao Afemai, 23 Johnny Leota.

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Giovambattista Venditti, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 George Fabio, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys (c), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto de Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Josh Furno, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Tommaso Iannone.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)