Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool C: Italy 53-17 Russia
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Italy scored nine tries on their way to a resounding bonus-point win over Russia in World Cup Pool C at Nelson.
Sergio Parisse, Giulio Toniolatti (2), Tommaso Benvenuti and Edoardo Gori touched down in the first half and the referee also awarded a penalty try.
Benvenuti, Luke McLean and Alessandro Zanni scored second-half tries, with Riccardo Bocchini kicking eight points.
Alexander Yanyushkin, Vladimir Ostroushko and Alexey Makovetskiy all crossed the line for Russia.
Italy made 12 changes to the side which lost to Australia in their opening fixture and dominated from the start.
Bocchino missed with an early penalty but skipper Parisse completed a simple move from a line-out for his seventh Test try after five minutes, with Bocchino converting.
Winger Toniolatti added the second try in the 13th minute - set-up by Parisse - but Bocchino was unable to add two points.
Two minutes later, Benvenuti touched down after a bad handling error by Ostroushko following Bocchino's kick upfield.
Toniolatti dived under the posts to secure Italy's bonus point in the 22nd minute, with Bocchino converting.
Referee Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty try against the Russians for collapsing the scrum five metres out in the 28th minute and Bocchino knocked over the conversion to make it 31-0.
But Russia hit back with their first Rugby World Cup try a minute later as Fabio Ongaro sat in the sin-bin after tackling a player without the ball.
Yanyushkin dummied and crossed the line, with Konstantin Rachkov converting.
More poor defensive play by Russia allowed Italy to score their sixth try on the way to a 38-7 half-time advantage, with scrum-half Gori crossing the line.
After the break, Bienvenuti grabbed his second try before Russia's Ostroushko ran outside of McLean and scored in the corner in the 50th minute.
But McLean got his own back, running down the right touchline to score his side's eighth try.
Russia's third try came from Makovetskiy, who accepted a long pass from Rashkov before diving over in the corner.
Replacement Zanni completed the scoring with a simple try, playing his part in a massive scrum that crossed the line with ease.
Italy: Andrea Masi, Giulio Toniolatti, Tommaso Benvenuti, Matteo Pratichetti, Luke McLean, Riccardo Bocchino, Edoardo Gori; Salvatore Perugini, Fabio Ongaro, Lorenzo Cittadini, Quintin Geldenhuys, Marco Bortolami, Paul Derbyshire, Mauro Bergamasco, Sergio Parisse (captain).
Replacements: Alberto Sgarbi for Masi (59), Gonzalo Canale for Bocchino (73), Pablo Canavosio for Gori (58), Martin Castrogiovanni for Perugini (47), Cornelius van Zyl for Bortolami (47), Tommaso D'Apice for M. Bergamasco (36), Alessandro Zanni for Parisse (58).
Sin Bin: Ongaro (33).
Russia: Igor Klyuchnikov, Vasili Artemyev, Andrei Kuzin, Alexei Makovetsky, Vladimir Ostroushko, Konstantin Rachkov, Alexander Shakirov; Vladimir Botvinnikov, Vladislav Korshunov (captain), Ivan Prishchepenko, Alexander Voitov, Adam Byrnes, Vyacheslav Grachev, Andrei Garbuzov, Viktor Gresev.
Replacements: Yuri Kushnarev for Klyuchnikov (33), Alexander Yanyushkin for Shakirov (28), Alexander Khrokin for Botvinnikov (54), Valery Tsnobiladze for Korshunov (61), Denis Antonov for Byrnes (65), Artem Fatakhov for Grachev (64), Mikhail Sidorov for Garbuzov (69).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Attendance: 12,418
