New Zealand U20's open campaign with tight victory over Italy

It wasn’t pretty, but the New Zealand U20’s have continued their streak of never losing an opening game at the U20 World Championship, this time beating the host country, Italy, 14-5 on Monday morning.

A packed crowd at PATA stadium in Calvisano were treated to an end-to-end game, in very challenging, hot, conditions in Italy.

New Zealand halfback Dylan Pledger and first-five Will Cole were standouts for the Kiwis, and Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi was powerful with ball in hand for Italy.

The opening couple minutes of the Pool C match between the Kiwis and Italy were dominated by the boots of both fullbacks, with Rico Simpson and Edoardo Todaro attempting to win the field position battle, without either team claiming dominance.

Play was stopped immediately after, as Bruno Vallesi was stretchered off with what looked like a nasty injury.

New Zealand had the first chance of the game, through a swift backline move that found Frank Vaenuku in some space on the right wing. Vaenuku strongly fended off two Italian defenders and nearly found his way to the line, but an Italian defender stopped him in a last-ditch tackle.

At the resulting ruck, Italy’s chasing defenders were caught offside, giving New Zealand the opportunity from a driving maul.

New Zealand captain Manumaua Letiu found himself at the back of the rolling maul, which proved too powerful close to the line. Cole added the extras from close to the sideline, 7-0 to New Zealand.

New Zealand thought they had won a penalty, but the TMO told referee Peter Martin that Stanley Solomon had illegally cleaned out an Italian defender, resulting in a yellow card.

Italy pushed on inside New Zealand’s 22, but the Kiwis were able to stop the driving maul thrown at them, stripping the ball close to the line.

The home side started to get some momentum just before halftime, and they made a huge break on the back of a mistake from New Zealand’s Cooper Roberts, with Federico Zanandrea picking it up and charging towards the line.

Zanandrea was chased down by Pledger, who ankle-tapped the Italian and broke up the play just inside New Zealand’s 22.

Fast forward one minute and Plegder was in the thick of the action again, this time having a snipe with ball in hand from the base of the ruck, breaking through the Italy defence and going in untouched under the posts. Cole added the extras from right in front, extending New Zealand’s lead to 14-0.

HT: 14-0 to New Zealand U20.

The host country started the stronger of the two teams in the second half, scoring a fantastic try down the left-hand touchline.

It was a strong run from Italy’s Nelson Casartelli, who broke a couple of tackles and offloaded it to Italy’s halfback Niccolo Beni, going in to score in the corner. The conversion sailed wide of the posts from close to the touchline, 14-5 to New Zealand.

Substitute midfielder for New Zealand Tayne Harvey thought he had scored with his first touch, going close under the posts, but the TMO ruled the ball to be held up.

The next 20 minutes of the second half were played mostly in the middle of the field, with both teams making numerous handling errors due to fatigue, and hot weather in Calvisano.

In the final moments of the match in Calvisano, Italy had the chance to claim a losing bonus point, but the kick from Gianmarco Pietramala sailed wide of the posts.

FT: 14-5 to New Zealand U20.

New Zealand will take on Georgia this Saturday at 4am NZT in their second match of Pool C.