Tonga’s Tane Takulua on Saturday capped a superb all-round display by slotting over a last-minute penalty to seal a 19-17 win over Italy in a see-saw Test in Padua.
The Newcastle scrumhalf kicked four penalties and converted Siale Piutau’s 51st-minute try as Tonga repeatedly came from behind to upset a side two places above them in the world rankings.
Lorenzo Cittadini and Tommaso Allan ensured Italy won the try count two to one. However, the failure to take numerous opportunities combined with some ill-disciplined defending to ensure a painful comedown from last weekend’s historic win over South Africa.
Tonga spurned an early chance when Takulua pushed a third-minute penalty wide for what was to be his only miss of the day.
However, Italy were soon dominating territorially and their pressure paid off after 12 minutes when giant prop Cittadini spun off the outside of a maul from the line-out and powered through Takulua’s last-ditch tackle to touch down in the corner.
A superb solo break by Takulua saw the visitors win a penalty close to the posts that enabled them to reclaim the lead, with the added bonus of seeing Allan banished to the sin bin for his desperate attempt to prevent the marauding scrum from reaching the touchline.
With less than three minutes left, fullback Edoardo Padovani put Italy back ahead, but Tonga’s final surge proved too strong to resist and Takulua coolly clinched the victory with the final kick of the match.
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