Italy survive Georgia scare with record-breaking comeback win

Rome: Italy recorded their biggest-ever comeback win to beat Georgia 20-17 in a tense encounter in Genoa on Sunday.

The Azzurri found themselves 17-6 down at half-time, but a run of 14 unanswered points steered them to a gutsy victory.

After a fairly even and entertaining opening 20 minutes, Italy opened the scoring through the boot of fly-half Paolo Garbisi.

This sparked new life into the game, and Georgia took full advantage of it as they crossed mere minutes later. A sensational attack found the ball in the hands of electric winger Akaki Tabutsadze, and he sliced through the Azzurri defence to cross the whitewash.

Italy responded well to this, however, and made Georgia pay for a string of penalties with another three-pointer from the boot of Garbisi.

A clever take in the air from Alexander Todua at the resulting kick-off got Georgia deep into the Italian 22, which allowed them to strike with a penalty of their own from Luka Matkava.

Los Lelos weren’t done there, and they added their second try of the game shortly after. A delicious line-break from Davit Niniashvili teleported Georgia deep into Italian territory, and he put the try on a plate for the supporting Vasil Lobzhanidze, who dived under the posts.

With the clock in the red, Italy had another golden opportunity to score, but heroic defence from Georgia dragged Matt Gallagher into touch just as the full-back looked like scoring.

Gonzalo Quesada’s side needed a big start to the second-half if they stood any chance of coming back into the game, and they got exactly that through a penalty try. A string of Georgian penalties allowed Italy to set up camp in the 22, and ultimately Tabutsadze’s deliberate knock-on was punished with seven points and a sin-bin.

They could easily have scored another too, after yet again heading into the Georgian 22, but a knock-on from Manuel Zuliani gifted them an easy reprieve.

Momentum was still evidently with the Azzurri, however. Yet more ill-discipline from the visitors allowed Italy to once again get within touching distance, but a well-worked strike move from a lineout allowed Alessandro Fusco to dart through a hole in the defence to score on his return to the side.

Italy nearly made it back-to-back tries too, however, Monty Ioane was taken into touch by a gaggle of Georgian defenders and they escaped once more.

With the clock winding down, Georgia had one final throw of the dice with a lineout inside the Azzurri half, but a knock-on handed Italy back possession, and ultimately the game.

The teams:

Italy: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dino Lamb-Cona, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti

Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Giulio Bertaccini