The Blues bounced back from a bruising defeat to South Africa against a resilient Chile side who did not give away victory cheaply against a side ranked eight places ahead of them.
After an opening period where kicking dominated, Italy took advantage with their first period of sustained possession on 12 minutes, though it took some individual brilliance from Ange Capuozzo to break the deadlock. He arrived from deep with a burst of pace to slip a tackle and surge through a gap in the Chilean defensive line to dot down just to the right of the posts and provide Giacomo Da Re with a simple conversion.
With their spirited opening quelled, Chile looked vulnerable once more five minutes later as Leonardo Marin found a gap in the Condors’ defence, but a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Diego Escobar prevented the Italians taking a two-score advantage so soon. Marin, one of 10 changes made by Gonzalo Quesada after their defeat to the Springboks, continued to impress at inside-centre and threatened to burst clear again moments later.
Despite being hauled back on that occasion, too, it was a passage of play that culminated in a penalty to the Blues which Da Re duly kicked over the posts for a further three points. And the hosts continued to dominate with Chile struggling to maintain discipline as referee Adam Leal awarded a string of penalties in Italy’s favour.
It was another penalty just after the half-hour mark that allowed the Blues to kick for a line-out and employ a devastatingly effective driving maul. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo was delivered to the line where he placed down in the left corner to score his first try for Italy and put them 15-0 ahead.
The first-half was not all despair for the Chileans, however, who ensured they would not go in for the break empty-handed just as the clock entered the red at 40 minutes. Substitute Salvador Lues used his strength to full effect in the pick and go to drive over just to the left of the posts, from where Tomas Salas could convert to put the score at 15-7 at half time.
Proceedings got even better for the Condors after the break as a clever kick from just inside the halfway line saw Nicolas Saab burst down the left wing to catch the ball from under the nose of Capuozzo. It put the left-wing into the clear as he flew over to much celebration from the Chilean bench before Salas converted to put the Condors within a point of the hosts.
But, returning to basics in the face of Chile’s resurgence, the Italians responded almost immediately as Di Bartolomeo was carried over by a second driving maul for his second try of the night. And after Da Re kicked over the extras to move Italy eight points ahead, the gap never looked like closing again, with that task made all the more difficult when Clement Saavedra was shown a yellow card in the 58th minute.
Monty Ioane was the beneficiary of sustained Italian pressure as the Blues shifted the ball out to the left wing where he could saunter over the line to dot down their fourth of the night. And it was a near identical play when he ran over again in the left corner for his 19th international try in the 73rd minute.
But the Condors would not go down quietly as Saab once more burst away down the left-wing. Despite getting tackled just before the line, his captain Saavedra was on hand to collect from the base of the ruck and bag his try to provide consolation for the visitors.
⭐️ Quilter Player of the Match:
Niccolo Cannone (ITA)
On the result: “I am very happy [with player of the match] - it is for the team. We know that this is a very tough game for us but we want to finish well and we finished well. Now we have to improve a little bit from today for the Six Nations and we want to come back with the guys. So we are very proud.”
On Chile: “[Chile] are a very tough opponent, we know this and we prepared for this. There are a lot of things we can do better. Tomorrow we will see the game and we will improve for the next game.”
On the Guinness Six Nations: “We want to continue our processes [in the Six Nations]. We know we are a strong team so we want to continue to win games.”