More misery for England on Treviso travels as Italy earn famous win

Tries: Carr-Smith 9, Fletcher 14, Stephens 16, Ilione 49, Lockett 66

Conversions: Harris 11, 16, 68

Italy U20s 38 (29)

Tries: Penalty 12, Scramoncin 20, Vintcent 30, Lazzarin 38

Conversions: Teneggi 22, 39

Penalties: Teneggi 5, 43, Sante 78

Drop goals: Pani 46

England suffered back-to-back U20s defeats to Italy for the first time as the Italians edged a pulsating third-place playoff encounter.

The home side prevailed 6-0 at the same venue in this year's Six Nations for their first ever win over England at this level but this spectacle was far different to their meeting earlier this year.

Italy struck first with a Nicolo Teneggi penalty, however, sniping scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith darted around the edge of the ruck to go under the posts from close range to give England the lead.

That got the Italian crowd on their feet before Lorenzo Pani sliced through and offloaded to Andrea Cuoghi whose pass to Dewi Passarella was deliberately knocked on by England fly-half Jed Walsh.

With the try line begging, Walsh was given ten in the bin and Italy a penalty try to regain their advantage.

That lasted little more than two minutes, however, as despite being down to 14, England rallied impressively to score two tries in two minutes.

First hooker Ollie Fletcher snuck over from close range after Ethan Grayson's carry made inroads.

Then Iwan Stephens raced down the right wing to score after being set free by this week's Young Guns feature Charlie Rice, who produced a deft pop off the floor.

Italy finally made use of their numerical advantage as hooker Tommaso Scramoncin applied the finishing touch to an unstoppable maul.

Captain Ross Vintcent then took the ball at full tilt to race over the line untouched and give Italy the lead, and Filippo Lazzarin then scooped up Cuoghi's loose pass and went under the sticks in the last action of the half.

Teneggi's boot and a Pani drop goal crucially pushed Italy more than two scores ahead just seven minutes into the second half.

Pani's high tackle on Rekeiti Ma'asi-White earned him ten minutes in the bin and England immediately made Italy pay as captain Emeka Ilione wriggled over in the corner.

Tom Lockett's try set up a grandstand finish with Harris' conversion narrowing the gap to just four points with just over ten minutes to play.

Replacement Giovanni Sante spurned a routine three points but he made no mistake second time around, sparking delirium from all those in blue.

Italy head coach Massimo Brunello said: “We won a complicated game against a very difficult opponent. We did it as the great teams know how to do: respecting our game plan and keeping clear in difficult moments.”

Match Stats:

Penalties conceded: 16/8

Lineouts won: 9/12

Lineouts lost: 3/0

Scrums won: 5/4

Scrums lost: 0/1

Yellow cards: 1/1

Red cards: 0/0

Referee: Adriaan Jacobs

Star man: Lorenzo Pani (Italy)

ENGLAND: Harris, Stephens, Ma'asi-White (Litchfield 53), Grayson, Hendy (Harmes 78), Walsh, Carr-Smith (Bracken 53); Onasanya (Turner 60), Fletcher (Stewart 44), Warren (Summerfield 44), Rice, Chessum (Lockett 62), Ilione (Fisilau 69), Brooke (Cunningham-South 27), Knight (Staddon 60)

ITALY: Pani, Pio Vaccari, Carlo Mey, Passarella (Cuminetti 60), Lazzarin, Teneggi (Sante 69), Cuoghi (Battara 66); Rizzoli (Frangini 58), Scramoncin, Genovese (Bizzotto 69), Ortombina, Ruffolo (Bartolini 58), Lavorenti (Rubinato 44), Cenedese, Vintcent (Marini 47, Vintcent 56)