Here’s one you don’t see every day – with Italy bearing down on the Uruguayan line, a grubber was put through only to see the ball hit Italian sub Giovanni Pettinelli as he stood in-goal, watching the big screen, oblivious to the action behind him.

It resulted in a penalty for los Teros, as it impacted the play. Understandably, Uruguayans and Italians will have been irritated with the moment that came from a kick through by Ange Capuozzo.

Check out the moment the ball hit Italian sub Pettinelli…

You don’t see that often, do you?

Italy were already leading at the time, thanks to a powerful score from young wing Lorenzo Pani, but after the odd incident for Italy things got worse.

Italian ill-discipline

With Uruguay coming in waves and Manuel Ardao almost stealing ruck ball at will, the Italians infringed with frequency. The South Americans had made it very clear that this match was their “Rugby World Cup final” and they made Italy err.

At first, Niccolo Cannone was sent to the sin-bin for yet another Italian offence at the breakdown. That was yellow card one.

Then after the Azzurri pulled down an Uruguayan maul, it was a penalty try and Danilo Fischetti got yellow card number two.

And then on minute 33, referee Angus Gardner gave the Italians yet another warning for their poor discipline.

The question of course was: could Uruguay make their advantages count in Nice?

Los Teros took the lead on minute 36 after hammering away at the line and then slipping two quick passes to the right corner, where Nicolás Freitas scored the try.

By the time Felipe Etcheverry dropped a goal, we were into the changing room and the South American side were 17-7 up on nervy Italy.

The second half, however, went a totally different way…

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