Italy finished their Six Nations Under-20s campaign in impressive fashion with a 27-20 bonus-point victory over Wales at the Stadiwm Eirias in Colwyn Bay.
Alessandro Garbisi’s brace and tries from Francois Carlo Mey and Lapo Frangini fired Italy to an early advantage, but the hosts mounted a late comeback to produce a nail-biting finish with scores from Luke Davies and Alex Mann.
It proved to be too little too late however as Italy secured their third victory of the Championship to finish fourth while fifth-placed Wales end their campaign with a record of one win from five.
Quick start for the Azzurini
The Italians stormed to an early lead with a fluid try in the second minute, as Ross Michael Vintcent burst through the Welsh defence on the left flank before offloading to Mey, who had a simple finish under the posts.
The successful conversion extended the Azzurini’s lead to 7-0, but Wales fly-half Joe Hawkins instantly responded with a penalty to reduce the deficit, as Italy were sanctioned for not releasing at the breakdown.
Hawkins had the chance to double Wales’ total a minute later, as the red shirts forced another turnover penalty, but the long-distance kick edged narrowly wide of the posts.
Continuing to threaten Wales from open play, Italy found a gap in the Welsh defence in the 13th minute and looked certain to score again until a last-gasp ankle tap slowed the attack.
Wales absorbed the pressure in their own 22 until an unforced forward pass from Italy squandered any chance of a try.
Both sides sought an advantage as the first-half ebbed and flowed, but the defences held firm until a period of intense pressure from Wales manufactured a well-deserved penalty to narrow the score to 7-6.
However, troubles from the restart continued for Wales who conceded a try soon after the penalty: Wales’ clearance from the restart was met with a scintillating Italian move, as Mey attacked the blindside and handed a try-scoring pass to Garbisi. The scrum-half crossed for his first try, the day after older brother Paolo had slotted the match-winning conversion for the senior side in Cardiff.
Penalised for being offside from a clearance kick, Wales conceded a penalty which Giovanni Sante fired over the posts, extending Italy’s lead to 15-6 with the last kick of the first half.
Wales fightback falls short
The second half went from bad to worse as far as Wales were concerned, as the referee brandished a yellow card to Josh Hathaway for taking out Lorenzo Pani in the air.
Garbisi made the advantage tell five minutes later with his second try, breaking away down the left touchline after Italy fearlessly chose to run a penalty from their own 22.
Even with Hathaway back from the sin bin, Wales struggled to trouble Italy who continued to dominate, eventually scoring a fourth try through Frangini in the 62nd minute after an impressive lineout drive.
It took just two minutes for Wales to reply to the bonus-point score with a try of their own, Eddie James offloading to Davies who leapt over the line for his team’s first try of the afternoon.
With five minutes left on the clock, Wales got back to within a score with a second try, stretching the sea of blue defenders with a smart move to release Mann, who scored under the post.
The successful conversion made for an interesting finish as only seven points separated the sides but Italy held strong, forcing a penalty in their own 22 to release the pressure with two minutes to play.
