Japan could not match the Azzurri, who beat Gareth Jenkins's men on home soil earlier this year, as they gave their former coach John Kirwan plenty to think about ahead of next month's tournament.

Having scored three first-half tries as they ran up a 22-7 lead, the Italians faded a little after the break. In the end, two tries in the closing quarter took them well clear again after Kirwan's men had closed the gap to 10 points.

The Japanese had already lost to Fiji, Samoa, Australia A and the Junior All Blacks this year and are not expected to trouble Wales when they clash at the Millennium Stadium on September 20th.

But Kirwan, who took over as coach this year, is determined to make his team competitive at the Rugby World Cup.

"My aim is to get us rugby fit, which means we have the ability to take big hits and lots of contact, but get up and start again," said Kirwan.

"The guys are training really hard and we're getting there. Our fitness camp was pretty torturous, but the boys have dug in."

Bristol wing Marko Stanojevic ran in two tries in as many minutes as the Italian's raced into a 15 point lead in eight minutes. Fullback David Bortolussi landed a second minute penalty and then converted the second of Stanojevic's tries.

Midway through the first half Viadana wing Kaine Robertson raced over for another try that Bortolussi converted, but the Japanese managed to hit back with a try from prop Tatsukichi Nishiura which Eiji Endo converted.

Back row man Hare Makiri grabbed Japan's second try after 60 minutes to cut the gap to 10 points, but the home side rallied late on to move clear once again.

Prop Andrea Lo Cicero drove over for his side's fourth try and then back row ace Mauro Bergamasco rounded off proceedings with an injury time score. Bortolussi converted both.

Italy
Tries: M Stanojevic (2), K Robertson, A Lo Cicero, Mauro Bergamasco
Cons: D Bortoussi (4)
Pen: D Bortolussi

Japan
Tries: T Nishiura, H Makiri
Con: E Endo

Italy: D Bortolussi (Montpellier); K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), M Stanojevic (Calvisano); R Pez (Bayonne), A Troncon (Clermont Auvergne); A Lo Cicero (Parigi), C Festuccia (Parigi), M Casatrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), S Dellape (Biarritz Olympique), M Bortolami (Gloucester, Captain), J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), S Parisse (Stade Francais)

Replacements: R de Marigny (Calvisano) for R Pez 27; A Masi (Biarrity Olympique) for Canale 41; S Perugini (Toulouse) for Lo Cicero 41; Lo Cicero for Castrogiovanni 64; M Vosawai (Overmach) for Sole 64; P Canavosio (Castres) for Troncon 74; L Ghiraldini (Calvisano) for Festuccia 74

Japan: B Robins (Ricoh); C Loamanu (Saitama Inst), Y Imamura (Kobe Steel), S Onishi (Yahama), K Endo (Toyota); E Endo (NEC), T Yoshida (Toshiba); T Nishiura (Coca Cola), Y Matsubara (Kobe Steel), T Soma (Sanyo), L Thompson (Kintetsu), H Makiri (Fukuoka), P O'Reilly (Sanyo), T Miuchi (NEC, Captain)

Replacements: L Vatuvei (Kintetsu) for Ono 45; R Yamamura (Yamaha) for Soma 57; R Asano (NEC) for O'Reilly 62; K Ono (Fukuoka) for Robins 79.

Referee: Dave Pearson (England)