Italy made a good start and soon roared into a 22-0 lead with a David Bortolussi penalty and three tries, two from Marko Stanojevic and one from Kaine Robertson.

But Japan, coached by former Italy boss John Kirwan, began to find their feet in a match played in the Alpine town of St Vincent.

Tatsukichi Nishiura touched down for a try that was converted by Kosuko Endo and then flanker Hare Makiri also scored a try which brought the score back to 22-12.

The visitors could not make further in-roads against an Italy team that struggled for much of the second half.

However, the hosts did put some distance between them and their visitors with two late tries.

Andrea Lo Cicero and Mauro Bergamasco were the scorers with Bortolussi slotting both conversions to give coach Pierre Berbizier a comfortable victory margin.