Italy v Australia: Five takeaways as Aussie-born stars land killer blows to down ‘woeful’ Wallabies who ‘limp’ to the end of Joe Schmidt’s era
Italy's Monty Ioane and an inset of Carter Gordon celebrating his try.
Following Italy’s 26-19 victory over the Wallabies, here are our five takeaways from another famous Azzurri win.
The top line
Forza! Italy have done it again! After failing in 19 attempts to beat Australia, they have now gone back-to-back, overcoming a 19-12 deficit with half an hour to play to beat the Wallabies by seven points.
Matt Faessler, Angus Bell and Carter Gordon all crossed the whitewash for the visitors as they surged into the lead, but ultimately, the Italians refused to be beaten as Paolo Garbisi’s boot kept them within touching distance before striking the killer blows.
Louis Lynagh struck the first, diving over out wide to score a try that would have left his father, the Wallabies legend Michael, conflicted before Monty Ioane, another Australian-born Italian star, put the nail in the coffin three minutes later.
Garbisi expertly dissected the posts on both occasions to stretch the lead to seven points, and despite Australia’s best efforts, they came up short yet again.
Azzurri rise continues
Italy may have won just once this Six Nations, beating the lowly Wales, but there is no doubt that head coach Gonzalo Quesada is building some team, perhaps the best Italian side since Sergio Parisse was in his pomp.
The Azzurri were swept aside by the Springboks in July, but put up a mighty fight in doing so with a young Italian outfit, and we saw on Saturday some of the fruit borne from the trip to the tip of the African continent.
Most notably with Manuel Zuliani, who built on his outstanding form in July where he was one of the Italians’ best. However, there was a clear gulf in quality in key positions with the sensational centre combination of Tommaso Menoncello and Ignacio Brex back in the midfield, Garbisi running the show at fly-half and the lethal attacking weapons of Ange Capuozzo and Ioane.
Two big positives for the Wallabies
George Smith, David Pocock, Michael Hooper and now Fraser McReight. Australia just know how to produce world-class number sevens, and the latest ‘fetcher’ is quickly becoming as brilliant as his predecessors if he isn’t already.
Outside of Australia, he hasn’t got the same global hype as the aforementioned trio, but goodness, he should be.
On Saturday, McReight made Mark Wahlburg’s Italian job look like child’s play as he robbed the Azzurri of the ball time and time again, and at times almost single-handedly kept the Australians in the game. Zuliani served as a fantastic adversary, but the Italian star was unable to cuff the Wallaby enough.
The stats don’t lie. Before Saturday’s game, he had won 19 turnovers in Wallabies’ colours; the next-best by a tier one team player was by Ardie Savea (10). Not forgetting that the majority of McReight’s Tests have come against the best of the best: the British and Irish Lions, Springboks, All Blacks and England.
But like his predecessors, McReight is far from a one-trick pony as he too is a leader, a wonderful tackler and equally adept with the ball in hand, whether he is linking up play or thundering into the defence.
The lack of truly world-class players has been singled out as one of the issues for Australia in recent years, but in McReight, they have one of the best in the business and someone that the team can be built around.
Meanwhile, Gordon marked his return to rugby union in style with a compelling display at fly-half. He may not have had the kicking duties, but he was vitally important to their cause and a large part of the reason that Schmidt’s side was in the lead.
The best attacking moments in the game for the visitors came through the playmaker, who also grabbed a rather contentious try, but luckily remembered the golden rule of playing to the referee’s whistle. When he left the pitch, Australia led 19-12, and from that point, the wheels just fell off for the Wallabies.
Wallabies limp to the finish line
Only time will tell how fondly Joe Schmidt’s time in the Wallabies head coach saddle will be viewed as Australia prepares for its final two matches under the experienced guru.
He has certainly built a squad that can be competitive at the highest level, but unfortunately, it has not consistently produced wonderful performance against the British and Irish Lions and the Springboks this year, but also woeful ones against England, Japan, New Zealand and now Italy.
It’s worth remembering that the first-ever loss to Italy was the final nail in the coffin for Dave Rennie, and while the squad has made enormous strides under Schmidt, they are limping to a finish, and it does not bode well for what lies ahead with Ireland and France left to play.
The one hope for Wallabies’ fans ahead of those challenging fixtures is that the worst of the side was on display here and they can surely only get better. The attack faltered more than it fired, they were wasteful with ball in hand, soft in defence and woeful in the air.
The result’s impact on the Rugby World Cup
The slump really couldn’t have come at a worse time for Australia as they surrendered 1.21 ranking points with this defeat. Had the scoreline been reversed and Argentina lose to Wales on Sunday, then Australia would have moved up to sixth in the World Rugby rankings and into the first batch of seedings for the Rugby World Cup in 2027.
Instead, the tournament hosts look set to lose even more ground on sixth-ranked Argentina, and the picture looks even bleaker with trips to Dublin and Paris still on the cards.
Meanwhile, the Azzurri have moved back into the top 10 of the World Rugby rankings, which means that they are on course to be part of the second batch of seedings. There was a threat of dropping further down in the event of defeats this November, but this result is a real shot in the arm ahead of the draw early next month.
