Michela Sillari missed a last-minute penalty for Italy as they had to settle for a dramatic 3-3 draw with Wales in Lecce.
A share of the spoils means the Azzurre remain unbeaten in this year’s Women’s Six Nations while Wales are on the board after last weekend’s heavy defeat to France.
Both sides were slow out of the blocks in Lecce and a string of Italian infringements saw them reduced to 14 before a point was scored after Silvia Turasi was sinbinned for collapsing the scrum in the Wales 22.
Wales however could not capitalise on their numerical advantage, but the Italian’s discipline did not improve and soon led to the first points on the board.
Just as she did in Wales’ loss to France last weekend, Robyn Wilkins gave her side the lead with a penalty from the tee after Italy were punished for not rolling away at the breakdown.
The score seemed to invigorate both teams but despite 64% of first-half possession Wales could not notch any further scores and the visitors went in at the interval leading 3-0.
Italy very nearly had the first try of the match when some good work by Giada Franco left them a few metres shy of the Wales try line but Melissa Bettoni fumbled the ball as she tried to take it over.
Manuela Furlan’s team did eventually scoop some points when Sillari levelled up the scores with a penalty of her own to set up a tense final 20 minutes.
Jasmine Joyce provided the most exciting moment of the game with just minutes left on the clock. The 7s Olympian ran 70 metres, gliding through tackles and sprinting past defenders to score a match-winning try, only for the TMO to rule that the pass to her was forwards.
Just as it looked like there would be no further chances to snatch a win, Sillari had one clutch shot to claim victory for Italy on home soil but came up short.
