KEY POINTS:
Italy 24
Romania 18
Italy coach Pierre Berbizier says he's relieved his side dug deep to fight off a determined Romanian comeback and record their first win of the tournament.
Still looking to be suffering the after-effects of Saturday's 76-14 destruction at the hands of the All Blacks, Italy produced a stuttering performance against a physical Romania at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
"We won but not without hardship and Romania knew how to make it difficult for us," he said. "But I was glad the players had sufficient resources four days after the All Blacks game to win this match.
"In the first half hour we had several chances to score but after that everything changed and we suffered and didn't come together. We kept out chins up though, especially when Romania drove forward at the end of the first half, but we made a lot of errors."
Berbizier said he was concerned about the number of injuries his side had picked up, with halfback Paul Griffen, lock Santiago Dellape and flanker Josh Sole on the casualty list.
"Playing two games in four days is hard but we are preparing the best we can," said Berbizier. "Today we may have lost three players to the World Cup and this is another problem but we'll have to wait for further tests before we can say any more."
Romanian captain Sorin Socol put his side's defeat down to a lack of experience.
"We lost it a couple of times during the match and that was down to a lack of experience," said the lock.
"We are not satisfied with losing and that is a good thing because it shows our ambition. This is the only way to progress. We hope to do better against Scotland."
Team manager Robert Antonin added: "We didn't lose the match in our defence, but we lacked ambition in attack and that was unfortunate."
- Reuters
