Too hot: Luca Morisi leaves Roland Suniula for dead
Italy racked up their second win on their tour of the Americas with a 30-10 victory over the USA in Houston, Texas.
Carlo Festuccia, Edoardo Gori and Kristopher Burton scored tries as Italy took advantage of two American red cards in the second half.
Paul Emerick scored the lone try for the Eagles before he was sent off in the second half for an illegal tackle. Andrew Suniula also earned a red card for the hosts who played with 13 men for the final 23 minutes in front of a 17,214 crowd - a record for an international rugby match on American soil.
The teams were meeting for the first time since September 2011, when Italy beat the USA 27-10 in pool play of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Riccardo Bocchino kicked three penalties and three conversions for the Italians.
Azzurri captain Martin Castrogiovanni said both teams felt the effects of sweltering heat and humidity that lingered even after the sun went down
"It was really hard for both teams," said Castrogiovanni.
"After 10 minutes, we were both breathing heavy. We tried to play quickly, but it wasn't easy."
Italy opened the scoring after just three minutes when Festuccia snatched a wayward line-out throw by the American hooker Chris Biller and outpaced the US defenders to the line.
"It was tough to get out of the gate like that," said US coach Mike Tolkin.
The USA attack started to gather momentum, putting together some solid phases highlighted by probing runs from the forward pack. The Italians were pinged for not rolling away, and Chris Wyles got the Eagles on the board with a penalty kick from 22 meters out to close the Italian lead to 7-3.
From the ensuing kick-off though, the USA were penalised for obstruction while collecting the restart, and Bocchino slotted the penalty to put the Italians lead back to seven.
The Americans drove deep into Italy's half and Emerick found the tryline after a good USA line-out for the first try for the hosts. Wyles made the conversion to tie it at 10-all.
Bocchino converted another penalty kick from the right with eight minutes left in the half, before Gori found a gap in the US defence and sprinted 40 metres for another Italian try.
Emotions were clearly running high early in the second half when Andrew Suniula was shown a red card for a late hit on Bocchino. The US defence held its own with only 14 players, but then Emerick was whistled for not using his arms in a tackle and was also shown a red card.
"I thought the first one was a little harsh," said Tolkin.
"The second one, I still haven't seen clearly, so I'll look at that again."
Bocchino booted another penalty for a 23-10 lead.
In the end, the two-man advantage was an obstacle the Eagles couldn't overcome, and Burton put the final nail in the coffin for the US, diving over for a try in the 77th minute.
The scorers:
For USA :
Try: Emerick
Con: Wyles
Pen: Wyles
For Italy:
Tries: Festuccia, Gori, Burton
Cons:Bocchino 3
Pens: Bocchino 3
Red cards: A. Suniula (USA - 44th min); Emerick (USA - 65th min )
The teams:
USA: 15 Chris Wyles, 14 James Paterson, 13 Paul Emerick, 12 Andrew Suniula, 11 Luke Hume, 10 Roland Suniula, 9 Mike Petri, 8 Todd Clever, 7 Scott Lavalla, 6 Taylor Mokate, 5 Brian Doyle, 4 Louis Stanfill, 3 Eric Fry, 2 Chris Biller, 1 Shawn Pittman.
Replacements: 16 Derek Asbun, 17 Mike MacDonald, 18 Tolifili (Andre) Liufau, 19 Andrew Durutalo, 20 Mose Timoteo, 21 Will Holder, 22 Colin Hawley.
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Tommaso Benvenuti, 10 Riccardo Bocchino, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Joshua Furno, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni (capt), 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Simone Favaro, 19 Tommaso D'Apice, 20 Tito Tebaldi, 21 Kristopher Burton, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.
Venue: BBVA Compass Stadium
Referee: Jerome Graces (France)
Assistant Referees: Derek Stoltz (Canada), Marc Nelson (USA)
TMO: Davey Ardrey (USA)
Comments
5Lock4ward says...
@Canadairish, I agree fully about Manoa however the other players you mentioned I believe are holding out in an attempt to make the respective national teams of the clubs they play for. There's more money and glory there in Europe. I'm okay with losing those guys b/c at the end of the day I want people on the Eagles who really want to be there; Americans who wouldn't dare to dream of playing for any other country. It won't be until then that the Eagles can compete on the highest levels.
Posted 02:53 26th June 2012
macte says...
Besides all one could say about the game and the refereeing, in my opinion the most remarkable thing is the attendance record: 17.214.
If interest for rugby builds up in USA, I think that soon we'll be dealing with a new powerhouse.
Posted 09:14 25th June 2012
fozza says...
I think it's harsh to blame the Northern clubs for holding up the development of the international team. I get that they can be swines about releasing second tier players and I'd like to see them freeing them up far more often (especially as there are no games going on in England right now... surely game time would be better for their players not gym work!).
However, with all due respect the American club system does not offer the development opportunities or earning potential of the european leagues. As it stands right now, if players want to take it to the next level they need to move abroad and players do benefit from this. Same goes for the pacific islanders who haven't grown up in New Zealand/australia, they're more likely to get the development they need in europe.
I'm a huge fan of the NFL and every year scores and scores of university grid iron players are expected to hang up their pads. Why aren't the rugby board targeting these guys? Now that it's an olympic sport maybe the spotlight will shine a bit brighter, because let me tell you, if Rugby ever comes close to American Football in the hearts and minds of the American Public... the rest of us can call it in!!!
Posted 08:43 25th June 2012
5Lock4ward says...
@NHSaints, I'm under the impression that a player has to be released to play by his club team during all of the matches that occur during the IRB's official 'test match window.' Frankly I'm pissed that he didn't play in these 3 matches.
Posted 02:01 25th June 2012
jimmy88 says...
Forza azzurri
Posted 23:24 24th June 2012
haireball19 says...
The first card was legit, the second should have been yellow. Also, the Italians should have been yellow carded for repeated infringements of the same type (not releasing and offsides). The ref called most of his penalties against Italy in the first half and barely any in the second half and that is when they were purposely slowing down ball and were still offside. The heat sucked Italy's life out and they should have been sin binned. But it is over now and the US did great to only give up 10 points in 36 minutes when down one and then two players. Well done!!!
Posted 19:14 24th June 2012
canadairish says...
Several European clubs are holding back the development of tier 2 nations such as USA. Callum Black @ Ulster, Tommy Seymour @ Glasgow, Hanno Dirksen @ Ospreys and Samu Manoa @ Saints could and should be playing regularly for the States. Yet for fear of declaring for another country than the one they work in and losing their contract, they dont. In Manoa's case you get the feeling that he's been told no international rugby for you or else you can look elsewhere. Disgraceful.
Posted 18:45 24th June 2012
NHsaints says...
@5Lock4ward not sure Manoa will be doing, Jim Mallinder signed him as cover for international players so any tests that are during the regular NH season he will probably be ruled out for.
Posted 16:36 24th June 2012
dillon says...
Refreshing to hear a fan "man up" honestly, like that instead of, like so many, just bad mouthing the referee like far too many of the rest of us are guilty of doing, rather than admit a harsh truth about the team we love. It's a shame the US team has to contend with such powerful competition from the other major sports, Football, Basketball and Baseball and to a lesser extent Hockey, otherwise I am sure they would be progressing a lot faster than they have been able, to date. Good luck for the future.
Posted 16:15 24th June 2012
5Lock4ward says...
I'm an Eagles fan and they deserved both of those red cards so I don't know what our coach is talking about. 'Dominate' is rather harsh considering how few points Italy put up after having a 1 man advantage from almost the beginning of the 2nd half and a 2 man advantage for 23 minutes. A team of Italy's stature should have run up the score board with an advantage like that. Credit to the American defenders who gutted it out. I can't wait to see what the US can do when Scully, Ngwenya and Manoa make their way back into the line-up.
Posted 12:46 24th June 2012