Captain Michele Lamaro lauds Italy’s second-half Rugby World Cup comeback against Uruguay

NICE – It was all going horribly wrong for Italy as they trailed Uruguay by 10 points at the break in their Rugby World Cup Pool A encounter on Wednesday, but a half-time reckoning got them back on track before they powered to a 38-17 victory.

A penalty try and yellow cards for Niccolo Cannone and Danilo Fischetti left Italy chasing the game and the interval brought about a change in their approach.

Uruguay led 17-7 at the break and were dreaming of a huge upset after a remarkable first half that began well for Italy with a try by Lorenzo Pani. However, it then went south, culminating in Nicolas Freitas crossing the line for Uruguay three minutes before half-time for a 10-point advantage.

“We got back into the changing room and we said we screwed it up and we handled it, just embraced the challenge,” captain Michele Lamaro said.

“I think we stepped back into the field with confidence, you know, stick together every single moment, win the little battles to win the final war.”

Coach Kieran Crowley was disappointed with Italy’s poor discipline, but praised his defence for holding out.

“You can’t afford two players off the field. One of them was just ill discipline, the second one you could argue but the referee made the decision so no problem. But you know, we’ve got to be better than that because you’re going to give away points,” he said.

“It was a hell of an effort from them because we only gave away seven points with 13 players, so you know that defence was pretty good.”

Two wins from their opening two games, along with two bonus points, set Italy up nicely for their remaining fixtures with New Zealand and France.

“I think we’ve got 10 points, if you asked me before to have 10 points after two games I would have taken it,” Lamaro said.

“It’s unbelievable the energy this group has, the way we are together, the way we live together. It’s something unbelievable.”

Lamaro, who scored the first try after the break to begin the comeback, also had plenty of praise for Uruguay.

Italy took full advantage with four tries in 15 minutes by Lamaro, Montanna Ioane, Lorenzo Cannone and Ignacio Brex as the South Americans fizzled out.

“I told all the Uruguayan guys they can be proud of their performance, they put us under a lot of pressure but in these moments, what counts the most is how strong is the team and in the second half we showed that and smashed everything we could. This is a real group, we’re a family. It was a really tough game,” Lamaro said.

Uruguay coach Esteban Meneses said his players and staff did their best, but the “Italians were superior to us in the second half and we were not able to reel them in”, as the Azzurri scored 31 unanswered points.

“The squad has shown enthusiasm, momentum and we’ll still keep working on that. Italy are a major team with a lot of potential and we weren’t able to match such a team,” he said.

“We made some errors which handed Italy the opportunity to gain momentum. In the second half, physically it was clear we weren’t up for it and we suffered.”

Italy now have time to recover before they take on New Zealand next Friday. REUTERS, AFP