Italians slow to get tour cracking

The All Blacks will not be shaking in their boots after Italy made a rusty start to their short tour of New Zealand, beating Manawatu 37-13 in Palmerston North last night.

The Italians had difficulty quelling their second division opponents before three tries in 10 minutes midway through the second half made the game safe.

The tourists showed more flair as the match wore on, and their first win since beating Fiji in Treviso on November 10 will give them some confidence before the one-off test against the All Blacks on June 8.

Their only other warm-up match is against a New Zealand Divisional XV in Taupo on Sunday.

Italy coach John Kirwan said he was "sort of happy" after securing his first victory as an international coach.

"We played probably 15 minutes of nice football in the second half which got us over the hump.

"But I was very pleased considering the limited amount of work we've had in our preparation."

Kirwan said winning was a habit, meaning the result was as important as the performance.

Handling errors dogged the game, possible because of early light rain, and both sides struggled to put multiple-phase play together.

Kirwan fielded a team comprising about half the players likely to line up in the test.

They based their four-tries-to-one win around a strong scrum, although their lineout was scratchy throughout the match and they struggled with some of the interpretations of referee Kelvin Deaker at the breakdown.

Up 16-10 at halftime and 16-13 with 25 minutes remaining, left-winger Denis Dallan set the game alight when he scored between the posts after a fine set move which featured sleight of hand from first five-eighths Francesco Mazzariol.

Mazzariol crossed soon afterwards thanks to a break by Dallan, and two minutes later second five-eighths Matteo Barbini controlled the ball well with his foot to score his second try.

The tourists dominated the closing stages, but could not cross the line.

They opened their account in the 11th minute when Manawatu fullback John Guise slipped while trying to field a grubber kick and Barbini toed through to score.

Two penalties to fullback Gert Peens stretched the lead to 13-0 after 32 minutes.

Guise and Peens traded penalties before Guise beat two defenders in a powerful 20m burst for a try which he converted.

Among the standouts for Italy were Peers, Dallan, lock Santiago Dellape and hard-working captain Andrea De Rossi.

- NZPA