Italy labors past Georgia 20-17 and ends drought in Genoa

GENOA, Italy (AP) — Italy barely avoided being embarrassed by Georgia again when it labored to a 20-17 win in autumn rugby on Sunday.

Tries by Aka Tabutsadze and Vasil Lobzhanidze helped Georgia to a 17-6 advantage at halftime but the visitors’ indiscipline let them down after the break as Italy was awarded a penalty try and replacement Alessandro Fusco scored while Tabutsadze was in the sin-bin.

Both teams targeted this match as their must-win of the autumn. It’s always a Six Nations litmus test for them in the court of public opinion: Italy having to prove it belongs and Georgia pushing its claim to replace the Italians. The Lelos ambushed Italy in their last match in 2022 in Batumi.

The win and second-half performance will boost Italy. on the rebound from last weekend’s hefty 50-18 loss to Argentina. That was sobering for the Azzurri following their greatest Six Nations performance yet.

Italy faces New Zealand next weekend but it has the win it wanted most, and its first ever victory in Genoa.

A patched up Azzurri with eight changes from the Argentina loss were dealt a blow in the second minute when captain Michele Lamaro went off clutching his left shoulder.

They went close in the 18th minute when Dino Lamb was held up over the line by the Georgians. The could claim only a Paolo Garbisi penalty and their lead lasted only two minutes.

Georgia stunned almost from the restart, quick offloads tearing apart Italy and Ilia Spanderashvili sending wing Tabutsadze to his 40th try in his 45th test. Luka Matkava added the extras.

Georgia penalties — a theme of the match — gave fullback Matt Gallagher and Garbisi shots at goal but the visitors swiftly restored their four-point advantage through Matkava.

Things immediately went from bad to worse for Italy when fullback Davit Niniashvili stormed through the Azzurri defense, slipped three defenders, drew the last man, and sent captain Vasil Lobzhanidze racing to the posts. Matkava again converted.

Tabutsadze then saved Georgia on the stroke of halftime with a try-saving tackle on Gallagher, playing his first test at home.

Despite 70% of the ball, Italy trailed 17-6 at halftime. Wrong options, handling errors, and a lack of a cutting edge gave Georgia time to scramble and slow down the messy breakdowns.

But the effort to contain Italy fatigued the Lelos, who had to make 255 tackles (to Italy’s 78).

They also couldn’t hold their discipline under Italy’s relentless assaults, conceding 15 penalties.

Italy finally received a penalty try in the 53rd minute and Tabutsadze was sin-binned for a deliberate knockdown.

Italy made the man advantage count just before Tabutsadze returned. Fusco, who had just been substituted in for his first test in 14 months, flew around the back of an attacking lineout and crashed over. Garbisi’s extras gave Italy a three-point advantage with 17 minutes to go.

But Italy couldn’t add any more points. Tabutsadze made another try-saving tackle, this time on Monty Ioane, and Gallagher missed his second goalkick.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby