Garbisi blows Italy’s chance for historic French win
PAOLO GARBISI dramatically fluffed his lines as Italy had to settle for a painful draw with rudderless 14-man France.
On the same weekend that French talisman Antoine Dupont starred on his seven-a-side debut in Vancouver, Italian fly-half Garbisi had a chance to win it for his team with the clock in the red.
But as he lined up a potentially match-defining penalty, the ball fell off the tee.
With the shot clock counting down, the Italian had to quickly put the ball back on and reset.
Unsurprisingly his kick was rushed and hit the post, robbing Italy of what would have been a first Six Nations win over France on French soil.
‘I was thinking about trusting my process,’ Garbisi said. ‘It’s part of my job to do the kick so I take full responsibility. I’m sorry for the team because they were amazing. For all the Italian supporters, it’s my bad.’
Dupont’s decision to pursue his Olympic dream in rugby’s shorter format means he is not leading Les Bleus in this year’s Six Nations.
And without him, Fabien Galthie’s side are struggling badly. They could not get the better of the Azzurri after playing the second half a man down following Jonathan Danty’s sending-off.
France’s power game saw them dominate territory and possession in the first half, although they only led 10-3 at the break, through a Charles Ollivon try and and Thomas Ramos penalty.
France lost fly-half Matthieu Jalibert to injury and centre Danty to what was initially a yellow card, for a high tackle that was rightly upgraded to red before the second half started. Ramos made it 13-3, but Italy never went away. Garbisi kicked a second penalty before Ange Capuozzo crossed. However, Garbisi couldn’t seal the grandstand finish.