Tight tussle: Italy v Australia
Australia put in a below par performance before claiming an unconvincing 22-19 victory over Italy in Florence on Saturday.
A superb second half fightback almost saw the home side pulling off a draw but a penalty from their fly-half Luciano Orquera, in the 79th minute, sailed just wide of the posts.
Italy came agonisingly close to taking the lead in the 67th minute when Orquera put through a perfectly-timed chip kick which bounced just in front of the Wallabies' try-line.
Captain Sergio Parisse was the player who gave chase but a wicked bounce denied him of what would have been a certain try.
It was a game of two halves for the Wallabies who dominated during the first 40 and held a deserved 22-6 lead at the break.
Their highlight of the game came in the 18th minute when Michael Hooper recovered a loose ball whichl went out to the backs and Kurtley Beale offloaded to Nick Cummins who got in for his second Test try in as many weeks.
Earlier Orquera and Berrick Barnes traded penalties but after Cummins' try, which Barnes converted, Australia added nine further points through a brace of penalties from Beale and another three-pointer from Barnes.
Orquera landed another place-kick on the half hour mark and when the players headed into the sheds, at the interval, Australia were well-set for a huge victory.
The Azzurri had other plans, however, and struck back with a try by Robert Barbieri shortly after the restart.
This came thanks to a dropped pass from Australia which resulted In Italy hoofing the ball downfield before Barbieri dived onto it behind the try-line.
After Australia's early dominance, the roles were completely reversed in the second half with Italy dominating in most facets.
They put the visitors under huge pressure in the set-pieces and were camped inside the Wallabies' 22 for long periods. To their credit the Wallabies' defence held firm and they kept several Italian surges towards their try-line at bay with courageous first-time tackles.
After converting his side's five-pointer, Orquera added two more penalties and although he had a chance to get the well deserved draw for the hosts it wasn't to be and the visitors held on to their narrow lead until the end.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Try: Barbieri
Con: Orquera
Pens: Orquera 4
Yellow card: Barbieri
For Australia:
Try: Cummins
Con: Barnes
Pens: Barnes 3, Beale 2
Yellow card: Ioane
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Francesco Minto, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Simone Favaro, 21 Manoa Vosawai, 22 Tobias Botes, 23 Luke McLean.
Australia: 15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Brett Sheehan, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe (c), 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Digby Ioane
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Comments
Trader2 says...
What is it with these Wannabies, I thought they would win comfortably so well done Italy. I guess this means that England are even worse than thought. I didn't see the game so won't comment anymore suffice to say that for those looking at the Wannabies getting worse next year, well I think you will be disappointed, they have a fair swag of top players to come back so melkdave don't get too excited.
Posted 20:56 24th November 2012
jmanngod says...
This just puts into perspective how poor and embarrassing the 18-all draw was for the ABs. The Wallabies are awful - I look forward to a knee-jerk dumping of Deans and then the Wallabies getting even worse under whomever takes over.
Posted 20:25 24th November 2012
melkdave says...
@OzibLondon
Im have never said OZ are a bad team ,i have said they will decline imo, quickly over the next 5 yrs ..Only constant class players OZ have are Genia and AAC atmThe others arent consistent enough ,but Hooper holds alot of promise .That said IF all the OZ players hit form ect at the same time ,they can beat anyone atm.Not that it happens often,It wont last though ,then the decline starts in earnest..
Posted 19:51 24th November 2012
philipjfry says...
@jonesy2: 10 point win?
Posted 18:30 24th November 2012
OzinLondon says...
A few things we can say...
Phibbs reverted to type.
The Wallaby reserve props are too far behind the first string
The Wallabies were guilty of taking their foot of the gas and almost paid for it.
The TV ref should be dropped back to whatever hack second division league he usually works for (I'd love to hear from all the usual suspects why the Italian try should have been awarded).
The refereeing at international level continues to get worse. I don't care if a referee penalises Aus off the park from the first minute (well... I do) but what chance do the players have if the ref goes off at half time and then completely changes his interpretations and decides to "even up" a match?
And lastly, the usual suspects are predictably out in force. Aus completely dominated the first half. They were very poor in the second half but were hamstrung by a pathetic decision to award a try and a referee who was completely inconsistent.
They did enough to get over the line and they won the game. If nothing else it will have greatly annoyed Melkdave who keeps telling us how bad the Wallas are yet they are winning games without several of their best players when the apparently "better" British teams are not.
And Italy... if you want to be awarded scrum penalties, don't schedule your matches on a pitch that can't deal with a rugby match.
Posted 18:30 24th November 2012
scrumpoacher says...
Actually scratch that last comment-Robbie, bring the Wagga Ladies College First XV. Wales will be a pushover...
Posted 18:29 24th November 2012
giomamo says...
A great opportunity lost by Italy. Wallabies are actually a real poor side, no ideas, no rushes, they just earned by Azzurri mistakes. Italy has to work on lineouts and discipline. Best wishes to Bergamasco whose leg crashed.
Posted 18:18 24th November 2012
scrumpoacher says...
Talk about a lucky escape! Foot off the gas after half time with complacency the culprit. C'mon boys you can do better than that...Currently watching Wales hold there own against NZ-you better be ready next week Oz!
Posted 17:49 24th November 2012
jonesy2 says...
not the best performance but a pretty comfortable 10 point win
Posted 17:03 24th November 2012
tha_mai says...
" below par " that was a polite way of putting it, considering it was the third-ranked team playing the 11th-ranked side.
Achievements for Qantas Wallabies, well they did score a try, keping their exact one per game average, and probably not a record, but must be rare a side can win after not scoring a point in the last 50+ min - their last point was in the 27th minute.
Italy played their 'A' game last week, a poor show tonight they'll look and the replays with 'what if'.
What was Deans' half time pep talk? "Relax boys, we've got them beat"
Unsure if this was the worst Qantas Wallabies performnce of the year, there have been many, but must be in their top 5.
And now some words, not mine, but from Qantas Wallabies supporters site, they are very unforgiving of their own national side: Incompetent, lazy, uncoordinated, unimaginative, limited, aimless, inaccurate, sloppy, stupid, pedestrian . . . then typically - blamed the ref!
,
Posted 16:49 24th November 2012
J_HDK says...
Gaaaahhhh Italy. Nearly! Great effort.
Posted 16:44 24th November 2012
macte says...
The blame on Italy's defeat is to put on the awful soil of the pitch. Too many resets due to the soil conditions could have been penalties.
At least Italy tried to build something, but Australia's defence was well organised as usual.
In the first half I didn't understand a few of the ref's calls (on both sides), much better his second half.
Posted 16:38 24th November 2012
carpelone says...
The worst team won.
Hope that Timani get cited and banned.
Better discipline in the first half would have won this for Italy.
Ioane was a yellow or a red card?
Posted 16:36 24th November 2012
melkdave says...
Lucky lucky wallabies,that final Italy pen going wide ,and his 1st miss of the match,Australia last week just heldon ,and England mistakes gave them the win ,and this week totally walloped in the 2nd half .Still dont think Astralia are as good as the IRB ranking suggests,and will start soon moving down the rankings .Just as well they had a huge cushion,going into the RC lol
Posted 16:34 24th November 2012
Wallaroo says...
Well done Italy, you had me worried right until the final whistle. Even though I'm happy with the win, the less said about the Wallabies performance tonight the better.
Certainly room for improvement which I trust will happen.
Posted 16:17 24th November 2012