Italy come from behind to beat Uruguay

Italy scored four tries in a second-half fightback to triumph 38-17 and shatter Uruguay’s hopes of a shock victory in a pulsating Pool A encounter at Stade de Nice.

Wing Lorenzo Pani gave Italy an early lead, but after second-row Niccolo Cannone was yellow carded, Uruguay levelled from a penalty try that saw prop Danilo Fischetti join his team-mate in the sin-bin.

Uruguay used the two-man advantage to send wing Nicolas Freitas over. Felipe Etcheverry added a drop goal to give his side a 17-7 half-time lead which would have been greater had the fly-half not missed two early penalty attempts.

But three tries within 10 minutes from skipper Michele Lamaro, Montanna Ioane and Lorenzo Cannone - the first two after Andres Vilaseca was yellow carded - sealed a bonus point. Juan Ignacio Brex added a fifth as Italy made it two wins out of two.

Italy captain Michele Lamaro, named the Mastercard Player of the Match, was delighted to emerge victorious after a tough first half for the Azzurri.

"This is a real group, we're a family," he said. "It was a really tough game. I told all the Uruguayan guys they can be proud of their performance, they put us under a lot of pressure but in these moments, what counts the most is how strong the team is and in the second half we showed that and smashed everything we could.

"I'm really proud of the boys and I'll share this moment for the rest of my life."