Italy register maiden Test victory over South Africa

Italy 20 - 18 South Africa, Stadio Artemio Franchi
Scorecard

A spirited performance from Italy saw them register their maiden Test victory over South Africa with a 20-18 triumph at Stadio Artemio Franchi on Saturday.

This was also the 13th time the two teams met in the last 21 years with 6-22 defeat was the previous best score for Italy against Springboks which came in November 2014.

Wing Bryan Habana gave a terrific start for South Africa with a try in the eighth minute but Patrick Lambie missed on the conversion.

Italy responded back with Dries van Schalkwyk crossing over in the 11th minute while Carlo Canna's conversion took them to a two-point lead.

Damian de Allende's try in the 16th minute and a conversion from Lambie secured a five-point lead for the Springboks which was cut down to two points at half time following a penalty from Edoardo Padovani.

Italy was down to 14 men when Marco Fuser was sin-binned in the 41st minute and Lambie added another three-pointer to stretch the gap to five points.

But Italy's hopes went high after wing Giovanbattista Venditti scored a vital try in the 55th minute to level the scores and Canna's conversion ensured them two point lead.

Even though, replacement fly-half Elton Jantjies took the South African lead to one-point with a successful kick in the 60th minute, Canna scored the decisive penalty in the 64th minute to complete a two-point win to Italy.