LEONI VENETI 36 – LONGOBARDI 34
Scorers first half: 3° Paluello tr Fadalti (LV), 4° Sola(LO), 9° Rossi (LO), 14° Berge tr Fadalti (LV), 18°Pavia (LO), 25° Pavoni tr Rossi(LO), 32° Montegudo tr Rossi (LO); Secondo tempo: 1° Quitadamo tr Rossi (LO), 15° Neri tr Fadalti (LV), 23° Nasso tr Fadalti (LV), 27° Sola (LO), 32° Borlin tr Fadalti (LV), 40° Zacchia tr Fadalti (LV)
LONGOBARDI: 1 Ciurro, 2 Montegudo, 3 Pavoni, 4 Cenerini, 5 Ilinca , 6 Rossi, 7 Quitadamo, 14 Berzieri, 9 Delhoume, 10 Prizzon, 11 Sola, 12 Carra, 13 D. Muyodi, 8 Stead, 15 Covati, 16 Pavia, 17 Monteleone, 18 Robuschi, 19 Muyodi E.
LEONI VENETI: 1 Grotti, 2 Valenti, 3 Visentin, 4 Berge, 5 Poumes, 6 Fadalti, 7 Fontana, 8 Borlin, 9 Nasso, 10 Reffo, 11 Paluello 12 Sands, 13 Orfano, 14 Bongani, 15 Zacchia, 16 Neri, 17 Corti, 18 Barzan
Referee: F. Veronese, Touch Judges: D. Veronese e G. Bonatti
With a try on full time from Andrea Zacchia and the conversion from kicker Fadalti (6 kicks from 6) the Leoni Veneti side win the first Italian State Of Origin.
The Italian Rugby league festival ended with a win to the North East selection, after a balanced and very physical game the Eastern side took home the trophy.
The match was not only the first Italian State of Origin but also was a trail to select the best Italian players to initially go on tour in England in September 2011 and then subsequently the qualification for the 2013 World Cup against Russia, Serbia and Lebanon.
With the possibility to earn a World Cup place, the game started with a number physical clashes, with both teams not wanting to give an inch to the opposition. The first points were scored after 3’ minutes by the second rower Paluello from the Leoni Veneti converted by the in form Fadalti.
The Longobardi team struck straight back with two unconverted tries by Sola and Rossi, resulting in a 8-6 lead for the North West side. The Leoni Veneti side responded with Berge after 14’mins before the Longobardi side put on 3 consecutive tries by Pavia 22’ mins, Pavoni 25’ mins and Monteagudo 32’ mins two of which converted by Rossi.
The first half ended with both sides still challenging the opposition and with some huge tackles and aggressive play. The Longobardi went into the break with a well deserved lead 24-12 over the Veneti.
The second half started with diving try by Quitadamo in the first minute converted by Rossi., the game was very tense and evenly contested, both sides continued to use their forwards to get some go forward and gain valuable meters and complete their sets of 6 tackles.
The balance was broken when after 16’ mins of the second half, the Leoni Veneti scored a try by Neri and then 23’ mins by Nasso, both converted by Fadalti. 30 – 24 for the Longobardi.
It was the Longobardi side which stirred up the crowd with another try by second rower Sola who ended the day with two tries.
The reaction by Leoni Veneti was immediate, with a try by prop Borlin (man of the match for the Veneti) converted again by Fadalti , which took the score to 34-30 with just 8 mins remaining.
In the last minutes the Leoni Veneti tried to gain control of the game, with the help of some indiscipline by the Longobardi team, Zacchia took a quick tap close to the line an managed to evade the defence to score the try to tie up the game 34-34.
Fadalti converted the try to gift the victory to the Leoni Veneti 36 Longobardi 34.
The match confirmed the huge progress made by all the players on the field, the Longobardi side even though dominating the game, saw it taken from them in the last seconds.
National selector Paul Broadbent said at the end of the game: ” I saw two aggressive teams who both wanted to win the game. I saw a lot of pleasing things by both teams, but above all I saw the application of the work we had done during the 3 camps held in Italy over the last few months which has seen a notable improvement by the players involved. I am going home with a list of players to select which will be confirmed after the two remaining matches of the Italian SERIE A RL. I am really proud of what the two teams achieved today and I believe that the F.I.R.L is doing some excellent work”.
The coaches of both teams, Kelly Rolleston and Tiziano Franchini were enthusiastic about the performance of their players, they both said that the game was very intense, physical and evenly matched with the Longobardi side probably having the edge everywhere except on the scoreboard.
At the end of the SERIE A rugby league championship, F.I.R.L with announce the players selected for the tour to the UK by the Italian national side.
The F.I.R.L, would like to thank everyone who contributed to the successful running of the Italian State of Origin event, in particular il comune of Piacenza, Rugby Piacenza 1947, Lyons Rugby, Akumal Cafe, la Libertà, Tele Ducato, Adolfo Seri, and The Park Hotel from Piacenza and everybody who helped make this an unforgettable day for Italian rugby league.
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