The Wallabies entered their second-last match of the tour looking for a turnaround in form to regain the ground they had made at the start of the tour. A record loss to England followed by a mid-week defeat to Munster had shocked the Wallaby team. As a result, coach Robbie Deans and his offsiders made a number of significant changes to the side to take on Italy. Whether the changes were prompted by poor form, or squad rotation to rest players to take on the French next week, a much improved performance was expected of this Australian team.
Australia began with the intensity that was lacking last week and maintained possession, as if it were a semi-opposed team run, for the first-minute-and-a-half of the Test. They used the width of the field and ran with greater intent to go forward, in the end being awarded a penalty, which Berrick Barnes promptly kicked.
Australia then went on to play the type of rugby we as supporters, and surely Deans as coach, have been waiting for them to play. They ran forward with aggression and made good ground. The pack worked hard to support their man and the recycled ball came quickly and was used judiciously. Soon enough Drew Mitchell would score the first try of the match, after some good interchange between forwards and backs and starting from a good Luke Burgess snipe.
In fact it was perfect rugby for Burgess, whose running game has been productive from the bench so far this tour. The commitment of the pack to make metres up the middle allowed him the space to take advantage of his acceleration and power and he made good ground regularly.
The first scrum of the game came 17 minutes in, after a series of strong surges by the Aussie pack and good defence by the Italians. The Wallaby scrum held well and provided a solid platform for a Ben McCalman charge. A follow-up pick-and-drive from Nathan Sharpe resulted in a knock-on and chance for the Wallaby scrum to put pressure on the Italians. That one resulted in a penalty to Italy, as James Slipper lost his bind and collapsed in. Slipper would have a tough time against the monstrous Martin Castrogiovanni, holding the hit but struggling to keep his side of the scrum up. It was a couple more scrum penalties that gave Italy the last six points of the half, one of which was a cracking 50-metre kick from Luciano Orquera. The Wallabies went to the break up by 13–9, which was disappointing considering how positively they started the game.
As we’ve come to expect in Wallaby Tests, the intensity began to fade after the break and the option-taking became questionable. Some crap passes — notably from skipper Rocky Elsom — and an odd drop-goal attempt from Barnes stymied further try-scoring opportunities.
In fact Barnes looked off his game in general play (if he has ever been on it this year), dropping and pushing passes and generally looking a yard or two off the pace. Ironically, this fast-paced game would have suited the nippier Matt Giteau’s contribution to backline momentum. But it’s hard to fault Berrick’s goalkicking, which looked the most assured of any Wallaby this season.
The Aussie scrum battled hard in the contests and was rewarded with a penalty that allowed the Wallabies to work their way up field. Eventually Barnes would kick his third, and then his fourth, and then his fifth and sixth penalty goals.
The stream of penalties meant the game never regained the energy in started with. While the Australians looked dangerous, through Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale’s footwork and the strength of Mitchell, Elsom and David Pocock, poor finishing or Italian infringements kept us from getting over the line. The Italians, on the other hand, didn’t threaten our line and never looked like scoring.
What many Aussie fans have been waiting for arrived at 27 minutes into the half — Super Taf! Immediately he got to test his line-out throwing. The throw was long, off-target and crooked. Bugger. So straight into his first scrum, where that afro would’ve been an absolute bitch to pack against. Scrum. Straight down. A reset ,and then a penalty to Italy. In fairness the penalty was against Benn Robinson, but welcome back to Test rugby Taf.
Robinson took the scrum down again not long after and, with Italy opting to reset again, they were finally awarded a controversial try from the back of the scrum. To me, Italian No. 8 Sergio Parisse seemed to drop the ball before replacement Robert Barbieri picked it up and dived over. Anyway, it’s on the scoreboard, but it was the only way the Italians were going to score.
Ironically the Australians finished the match with a try to Rocky Elsom from an Italian scrum. The ball was fed by Italy five metres up from their own line; it came out the same side allowing Elsom to pick it up and scamper over for a deserved meat pie.
Overall it wasn’t a performance to recapture the hearts of the Wallaby fans nor the column inches of the national newspapers. For the Wallabies, Rocky Elsom and Luke Burgess were probably our best, however both produced a number of glaring errors. Elsom’s backrow partner Pocock was a force again, while Rob Simmons, in his run-on debut, had a busy match alongside the always impressive Nathan Sharpe. Quade, Kurtley and Drew had their moments but the outside backs in particular saw little ball. In fact poor Lachie Turner will hardly feel like he played a game at all, despite all the chasing he did.
The highlight of the match, outside of Berrick’s goal kicking (his six penalties setting a record for Wallaby Tests versus Italy), was the debut of Brumby Pat McCabe, who came on for Adam Ashley-Cooper with less than two minutes to go. A reward for an excellent Super 14 season.
Can I finish by saying I am sick of these bloody ignorant commentators who now proclaim themselves scrum experts and reckon they know everything that’s happening within? The ‘expert’ on Channel 10 was whinging incessantly like it was some form of national travesty. He clearly had no idea what was going on in the scrums and would have been better served keeping his mouth shut. For most of the game.
AUSTRALIA 32 (Drew Mitchell, Rocky Elsom tries; Berrick Barnes 2 conv, 6 pg) defeated ITALY 14 (Robert Barbieri try; Luciano Orquera pg, Mirco Bergamasco 2 pg)
ITALIA:
15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Andrea Masi.
AUSTRALIA:
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 22 Pat McCabe. (20 Will Genia & 21 Matt Giteau, not used)
