Monty Ioane’s hat-trick inspired Italy to a 42-21 win over Japan in an entertaining affair in Treviso.
The Italy winger was in fine form as the Azzurri finished their Summer Nations Series campaign with a hard-fought win over a plucky Japan side.
Kieran Crowley’s side crossed the line five times, as Stephen Varney opened proceedings, before Ioane stole the show and Martin Page-Relo capped off the afternoon.
Japan themselves entertained and scored three well worked tries of their own through Jone Naikabula, Kotaro Matsushima and Dylan Riley but were unable to quite match Italy.
Italy started excellently and they were duly rewarded for their opening dominance when Varney ran in a simple try following Paolo Garbisi’s break.
Tommaso Allan, who put in an assured display at full-back, added the conversion and the Azzurri led 7-0 after six minutes.
Japan did hit back quickly though and in some style, crossing following a smart line-out move, faking a maul before scrum-half Yutaka Nagare pulled defenders across and Naikabula ran a smart line on the inside to finish.
Kicking proved to be an issue throughout for Japan though, failing to convert any of their tries.
Italy extended their lead back to two scores as Ioane acrobatically finished a superb try.
The winger grabbed the ball in the air, jumping ahead of Nagare after Ange Capuozzo’s magnificent break down the right wing before a clever kick back inside.
Japan fly-half Lee Seung-Sin added two penalties, with Allan adding one for Italy and the two sides headed in at the break with Italy 17-11 ahead.
Allan added a third penalty early in the second half to re-assert Italy’s nine-point lead but as so often seems the case, Japan had an answer.
Matsushima found his way over the line after a really patient build up from the Brave Blossoms, going through the phases before the full-back found a whole in the Italy defence.
Just two minutes later though and once again Ioane was the scorer, this time following some slick interplay between Capuozzo and Juan Ignacio Brex, before Ioane was the grateful recipient in the corner.
Allan’s third penalty saw Italy pull into a 28-16 lead with 15 minutes left on the clock, making the next score vital.
That went to Japan, after more patience through the phases with Riley squeezing through Brex and Ioane to reduce the gap back to 28-21.
A thrilling finale was on the cards but in the end it was the home side who had that little bit extra and Ioane broke away from two Japan tackles to dive under the posts to celebrate a fantastic hat-trick of tries.
That effectively put the game to bed but Italy were not done there and replacement scrum-half Martin Page-Relo scooped up a loose ball to score his side’s fifth try and seal a hugely satisfying afternoon for Crowley and the Treviso crowd.
