Parramatta Eels forward Nathan Brown led Italy to an impressive 28-4 win over Scotland at Newcastle's Kingston Park to keep alive the Azzurri's hopes of an historic World Cup quarter-final berth.
Brown, who is the only NRL player in the Italian squad following the withdrawal of Storm playmaker Cooper Johns, was outstanding as the well organised Azzurri dominated the Bravehearts in their opening World Cup match.
The Italian captain ran 123 metres from 23 carries of the ball and made 34 tackles before being given an early mark after winger Jake Maizen crossed for his third try seven minutes from full-time.
Maizen's hat-trick capped a dream international debut for the 25-year-old Sunshine Coast Falcons speedster.
Halves Jack Campagnolo and Radean Robinson, who was called up as a late replacement for Johns, were also influential on the win, which gives Italy the chance to advance to the knock-out stages if they can beat Fiji.
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Match snapshot
- Scotland's best scoring opportunity of the first half came in just the fifth minute when winger Matt Russell crossed out wide after picking up a loose ball from Liam Hood only for referee Todd Smith to rule that the prop had knocked on trying to ground the ball.
- Italy fullback Luke Polselli, from the Sunshine Coast Falcons, made the Bravehearts pay soon after when he pounced on a perfectly placed grubber from Central Capras halfback Radean Robinson to score in the 10th minute.
- South Sydney five-eighth Jack Campagnolo converted to give Italy an early 6-0 lead and they were never really troubled again.
- London Broncos hooker Dean Parata extended Italy's lead in the 22nd minute when he raced out of dummy half and dummied his way past prop Scotland prop Sam Luckley to score.
- Italy had a chance to go further ahead when Brown and Campagnolo combined to create an opening for Polselli but he couldn’t handle the pass with line wide open.
- Scotland's hopes of fighting their way back into the game effectively evaporated when captain Dale Ferguson was sin binned in the 38th minute for attacking the ankle of Falcons centre Daniel Atkinson.
- With the Bravehearts down to 12 men, Italy winger Jake Maizen crossed for back-to-back tries to increase his side's lead to 22-0 before Ferguson returned.
- Maizen's first try came after Campagnolo and Atkins combined to create an overlap and he stepped inside opposite number Lachlan Walmsley to score in the 45th minute.
- He then crossed three minutes later after a long range break from Atkins, who was pulled down short of the tryline by Scotland fullback Ryan Brierley.
- Maizen then completed his hattrick in the 73rd minute when he accelerated past Scotland centre Ben Hellewell and sprinted 90 metres to score.
- Walmsley scored a consolation try three minutes later a deft flick pass from Dolphins-bound backrower Euan Aitken.
What they said
“We knew that pretty much everyone wrote us off for this whole tournament and that’s what us Italians are all about: passion, hard work and fighting to the death. All we were talking about through the week was fighting for the full 80 minutes. It’s a real honour to be captain of Italy. We’re in a tough pool. All we know is to keep fighting.” - Italy captain Nathan Brown
“We didn’t help ourselves, way too many errors and a couple of bad decisions on our part, myself included, it’s not what you want at the start of a tournament. It will be exceptionally tough to dust ourselves down because it’s a quick turnaround for Australia but we’ve got to rip in as much as we can and wear a bit of pride on our sleeves." - Scotland forward Euan Aitken
What's next
Italy play Fiji in Newcastle on October 22 in a match that is expected to decide the runner up in Pool B and a place in the quarter-finals.
The Azzurri meet Australia in their final pool game at St Helens on October 29.
Scotland's hopes of advancing beyond the pool stages of the tournament are now all but over as they face the Kangaroos in Coventry on October 21 and the Bati on October 29 in Newcastle.