Uruguay looked well on their way to earning their first win ever at the Rugby World Cup and led 17-07 at the halftime break. However, Italy started the second half like a house on fire and scored thirty-one unanswered points to win 38-17.
Lorenzo Panis scored the first try for Italy after six minutes of play forcing his way over the tryline past several defenders.
The rest of the first quarter was a stop-start affair until Uruguay earned a penalty try to level the scores at 07-07 after twenty-six minutes of play.
Following a 5m lineout-maul, Uruguay continued their onslaught on Italy's tryline until an opportunity opened up out wide. Winger Nicolas Freitas scored a well-deserved try out wide, handing Uruguay a 14-07 lead for the first time of the match.
Felipe Etcheverry ended the first half in style for Uruguay, converting a dropgoal with time up on the clock. Uruguay led 17-07 going into the second half.
Italy started the second half a lot better when first captain Michele Lamaro bulldozed his way over the tryline, followed shortly thereafter by a try by Montanna Ioane to hand the lead back to Italy (21-17).
Italy's Lorenzo Cannone scored their fourth and bonus point try as the game opened up and Italy started to dominate. Italy led 28-17 after sixteen minutes of play in the second half.
A try by Juan Ignacio Brex and a converted penalty by Paolo Garbisi during the final quarter secured an important 38-17 bonus point win.
Scorers:
Italy: Tries: Lorenzo Pani, Michele Lamaro, Montanna Ioane, Michele Lamaro, Juan Ignacio Brex. Conversions: Tommaso Allan (5). Penalty: Paolo Garbisi.
Uruguay: Tries: Penalty try, Nicolas Freitas. Conversion: Felipe Etcheverry. Drop goal: Felipe Etcheverry
Teams:
Italy: 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 10 Tommaso Allan, 11 Montanna Ioane, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Lorenzo Pani, 15 Ange Capuozzo. Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Giovanni Pettinelli, 22 Alessandro Fusco, 23 Paolo Odogwu.
Uruguay: 1 Mateo Sanguinetti, 2 German Kessler, 3 Ignacio Peculo, 4 Felipe Aliaga, 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Manuel Ardao, 7 Santiago Civetta, 8 Manuel Diana, 9 Santiago Arata, 10 Felipe Etcheverry, 11 Nicolas Freitas, 12 Andres Vilaseca (c), 13 Tomas Inciarte, 14 Gaston Mieres, 15 Baltazar Amaya. Replacements: 16 Guillermo Pujadas, 17 Facundo Gattas, 18 Diego Arbelo, 19 Ignacio Dotti, 20 Carlos Deus, 21 Agustin Ormaechea, 22 Felipe Berchesi, 23 Bautista Basso.
