Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Italy outmuscle Japan in Piacenza

Veronica Madia of Italy in action during the Women's International Test Match between Italy and Japan at Stadio Walter Beltrametti on September 14, 2024 in Piacenza, Italy. (Photo by Federugby/Federugby via Getty Images)

Italy secured a solid 24-8 victory over Japan in a friendly match at the Beltrametti Stadium in Piacenza as part of their preparations for the WXV tournament.

ADVERTISEMENT

After a challenging first half-hour, Italy took control of the game, scoring four tries to Japan’s one.

Japan started strongly, spending much of the opening 10 minutes in Italy’s 22. Their early opportunities went unconverted however with Italy’s defence holding firm.

A handling error by Kawamura and a turnover forced by Muzzo and Giordano helped keep Japan at bay. Japan did manage to open the scoring in the 17th minute with a penalty from Otsuka to take the lead 3-0.

Italy responded as the half progressed. Rigoni’s interception initiated Italy’s first major attacking threat, which led to a lineout deep in Japan’s half. After sustained pressure Italy broke through in the 30th minute when Rigoni set up Muzzo for the first try with Rigoni converting to make it 7-3.

Fixture
Women's Internationals
Italy Women
24 - 8
Full-time
Japan Women
All Stats and Data

Ostuni Minuzzi added a second try shortly before halftime – sprinting past Matsumura to extend Italy’s lead to 12-3. A potential third try for Italy was disallowed due to obstruction.

Italy continued to control the match after the break. Five minutes after the restart Ostuni Minuzzi capitalized on a misjudged bounce by Kagawa to score her second try – bringing the score to 19-3.

ADVERTISEMENT

Italy’s defence remained solid though as they effectively contained Japan’s attempts to respond on the scoreboard.

Italy’s fourth try came on the hour mark through Muzzo who finished a break from Mannini to put the result beyond doubt.

Japan managed a consolation try in the 64th minute when Matsumura crossed the line to make it 24-8.

Italy’s next match is against Scotland in the WXV opener.

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

The Rise of Kenya | The Report

New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 41 minutes ago
The raw data that proves Super Rugby Pacific is currently a cut above

Your links are private if you were intending them to be shared.


URC us doing very well with it’s competitiveness given that each group has it’s own salary caps and entirely different makeups, from clubs, to provinces, to franchises and regions. One group might be teams from the most populace country with the biggest rugby base while another the smallest, with the least amount of rugby players to chose from.

On average, just about one SRP game every weekend has been decided in the last five minutes!

I would also be interested in a average clock length (don’t need to go into the whole BIP hole) showing how long the last phases are taking (because one team is trying to still alter the match points outcome in some way) to complete before the game finally ends. I don’t know if its more common this year but in general I wonder if its a stat that can show how good games are/were?

17.7%

You really had the same reversed 10 points lead % as you had lead changes after the 75th?


Some of these values while standing out numerically against each other have a much less correlative impact than some that tighter differences which might only stick out a small amount. While SRP’s ones might not necessarily be such examples (and here I’m still going off the basic principle that everyone knew this was happening, even though I was challenged about that assumption) they have had the advantage of the fixtures being were doctored even more than normal. In this instance its irrelevant whether they were doctored or not of course, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that there hasn’t been a lot of cross over of worst v best yet. Maybe it just feels like that because the worst are so much better this year? I definitely think that it is undeniable that all the bottom teams (that remain) have gotten better.


So I would be very interested in another weight graph of the games still, but regardless I don’t think it’s fair for SRP to claim anything over the other leagues yet. Certainly as I have said numerous times about the Top 14, it’s sub par compared to what it’s billed up to be, but that is the only league in this group that has promotion and relegation, which is the antitheses of a competitive league, so a trade off there.


Thank you very much for sharing your research though Dmitri, I hope you find another topic to get interested about!

30 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ No definites, but which Wales players could still make Lions squad? No definites, but which Wales players could still make Lions squad?
Search