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Italy depart on a high

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Gabrielli transforms his team from first-day duds into worthy bowl winners

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Italy were terrible on Friday, average on Saturday and at their best yesterday when it really mattered earning themselves the bowl title.

Benjamin de Jager's second-half try and Tomas Pucciariello's conversion was all that was required in the final to dispatch a disappointing Canada side who failed to live up to their billing as automatic qualifiers.

To snap his players out of their early tournament lethargy, all Italy coach Marco Gabrielli had to do, it turned out, was to lock them in the hotel.

'There was no magic,' said Gabrielli after the 7-5 victory. 'We just got them to focus on the rugby. We made them stay in the hotel - no going out in Hong Kong.'

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Canada, who had arrived hoping to repeat their cup quarter-final appearance in 2001, broke the deadlock through Stirling Richmond just before half-time.

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