Italy make history in Rome

France saw their RBS Six Nations title challenge left in tatters after Italy claimed a sensational 22-21 victory in Rome.

The Azzurri, who had lost all of their previous 11 Championship matches against their near-neighbours, battled back from 18-6 down to record a historic win.

Mirco Bergamasco was the Italy hero, the veteran wing firing over five penalties and converting Andrea Masi's second-half try to turn the game on its head.

The game looked dead and buried when Morgan Parra jinked his way over early in the second half, however France were left to pay the price for a thoroughly ill-disciplined display in the Italian capital.

Vision

France committed three infringements inside the opening minute, the last of which - an offside call against Francois Trinh-Duc - allowed Bergamasco to slot over the first points of the afternoon.

Italy continued to dominate possession and territory in the opening stages but they were hit by a real sucker-punch in the 14th minute.

France outside centre Aurelien Rougerie fed Vincent Clerc on the right touchline and he showed wonderful vision and pace to chip the ball over the static Azzurri defence before collecting his own kick to score.

Scrum-half Parra missed the ensuing conversion, but Les Bleus immediately broke forward after the re-start.

Rougerie somehow contrived to drop the ball with the try-line at his mercy after a deft off-load from Trinh-Duc, and all of a sudden Italy found themselves camped inside their own 22.

A sustained spell of French pressure gave Parra another chance to find his range with a penalty and he made no mistake from close range.

The high-octane opening showed no sign of slowing down and Italy centre Gonzalo Canale set off on a mazy run midway through the first half, which was halted illegally by France.

Bergamasco stepped up to reduce the deficit to 8-6 and the vociferous Azzurri fans responded to their side's promising start with a spectacular Mexican wave.

The physical start to the match showed no sign of easing and another penalty, this time for France, was awarded on the half hour, only for Parra's long range strike to cannon back off the post.

France coach Marc Lievremont left the field at half-time looking less than impressed with his side's efforts, and his mood would not have improved when Italy made an early raid towards the French line immediately after the interval.

The move broke down when Luciano Orquera's grubber kick found a dark blue jersey and that wrong decision was to prove costly as France swiftly broke and won a penalty, which Parra converted with aplomb.

At 11-6 to Les Bleus the match was still in the balance, but France grabbed the initiative on 51 minutes, Trinh-Duc skipping through a host of would-be tacklers and offloading to Parra who showed great strength to dive over for his first Test try.

Nerves

His routine conversion put France in command at 18-6 ahead and the 12-point lead remained in tact when Bergamasco's long-range penalty lacked the distance.

While that miss was excusable, the winger's next effort was not and the missed kicks were beginning to mount up for Italy.

However, the home side gave themselves a glimmer of hope on the hour when Masi slipped over in the corner and Bergamasco fired over the extras.

France looked rattled at this point and the nerves on their bench were evident when Bergamasco kept his cool with a crisp penalty strike to reduce the deficit to 18-16.

But Parra continued the pull France along almost single-handedly, slotting over penalty number three after more ill-discipline from Italy.

The penalty count continued to rise though and Bergamasco set up a fascinating final 10 minutes when he continued his kicking revival with another testing penalty to take the scores to 21-19 to France.

An inexplicable error of judgement from Yohan Huget, who caught the ball then slid his foot in touch, set up another Italy raid, and, when play was recycled Italy were awarded yet another penalty which Bergamasco fired home.

Those points edged Italy ahead at a crucial time and despite late France pressure, the Azzurri held on to cue wild scenes of celebration both on the pitch and in the stands.