Australia made to sweat by Azzurri

Late try seals Wallaby win

Australia captain Stirling Mortlock scored a late try to seal a narrow 25-18 win fover Italy at Stadio Flaminio in Rome on Saturday.  The Wallabies outscored the home side by three tries to none, but six penalties by fly-half Ramiro Pez kept the Azzurri in the hunt and the heat on the visitors.

The Australians were made to sweat and at times made to look very ordinary by an Italian team that deserved more than they got on the day.

It was a game in which the Wallabies' shortcomings were exposed like never before -- their suspect scrum was destroyed by the powerful Italian pack on a number of occasions and they also struggled to contain the impressive Italian mauls.

But the biggest flaw in the Australian game is that they offered very little other than their predicable phase play, which the Italians found relatively easy to defend against.

If you want to know where the tries came from -- well one was a bad Italian tap in the line-out, the other a great bust up the midfield from Wycliff Palu and only one of the three came from sustained phase play.

But enough about the Wallaby shortcomings -- let's talk about the Italian performance.

They have an awesome pack, which will hold its own in any competition.  Their line-outs may not be so flash, but they will get enough from this phase if they can concentrate for 80 minutes.

And it was those momentary lapses of concentration that probably cost the Azzurri the game.

The early passages were controlled by the Italians, who took the ball up strongly and moved it from side to side.

They were soon rewarded for their efforts, when the Australians were penalised and hooker Brendan Cannon yellow carded for what seemed a harmless push.

Fly-half Ramiro Pez pushed this effort wide, but he slotted the next three -- in the fifth, 11th minutes and 15th minutes -- to give his team a handy 9-0 lead.

The Wallabies had their chances, but they were squandered rather amateurishly -- once Chris Latham dropped the ball over the tryline.  They were prone to handling errors and as the scoreline suggested they were heavily penalised.

Australia finally got onto the scoreboard in the 21st minute, following a rare passage of sustained ball control, and captain Stirling Mortlock wasted no time in slotting the penalty to narrow  the gap to 9-3.

But the Australian scrum, which has been under pressure, crumbled in the 24th minute as the Italians just marched upfield.  The mess of a scrum soon turned into an Italian, penalty, which Pez duly slotted.

The Australians finally got their hands on the ball and put a few phases together, before fly-half Mat Rogers slipped over for a great try in the 27th minute.  The decisive pass came from inside centre Stephen Larkham, who drew the defence as Rogers looped around.

Mortlock added the conversion and kicked a penalty six minutes later -- following another period of sustained pressure and phase play -- for the Wallabies to take the lead for the first time.

But the Italians were not done yet and right on the stroke of half-time, as they marched upfield with another impressive maul, they were awarded a penalty -- which Pez slotted to regain the lead, 15-13 at the break.

The Australians were first to score after the break, but it was a fortuitous score -- with an Italian line-out going badly wrong, the tap finding a charging Guy Shepherdson, who just flopped over for the try.  Mortlock added the conversion to make it 20-15 in favour of the Wallabies after 44 minutes.

Pez had a chance to narrow the gap six minutes later, but he pushed a relatively easy shot at goal wide of the upright.  But he slotted one from a similar distance and angle in the 56th minute, to narrow the gap to 20-18.

But the crucial score came from the Australians in the 70th minute, with captain Stirling Mortlock going over for a great try, following a powerful midfield run by No.8 Wycliff Palu.  But Mortlock couldn't add the conversion, leaving the backdoor open for the Italians at 25-18.

The Italians tried bravely, but the Wallabies hung on to the end for a hard-earned win.

Man of the match:  You can look at Italian fly-half Ramiro Pez for his great goal-kicking, or even the front row of Martin Castrogiovanni, Carlo Festuccia and Andrea Lo Cicero for their powerful scrummaging performance.  No.8 Sergio Parisse also had a strong performance, as did his Australian counterpart Wycliff Palu.  Stephen Larkham and Mat Rogers had their moments, but out award goes to the captain Stirling Mortlock and it is not just for his match-clinching try.  As usual he put his body on the line for his country.

Moment of the match:  It simply has to be Stirling Mortlock's 70th minute try, not only because it sealed the win, but also for Wycliff Palu's great midfield bust.

Villains of the match:  There were two yellow card  -- Brendan Cannon for punching and Lote Tuqiri for a professional foul.  But Lote Tuqiri deserves the award on his own.  He was involved in off the ball stuff far too often.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Pens:  Pez 6

For Australia:
Tries:  Rogers, Shepherdson, Mortlock
Cons:  Mortlock 2
Pens:  Mortlock 2

Yellow cards:  Brendan Cannon (Australia, 3 mins -- punching), Lote Tuqiri (Australia, 79 -- professional foul)

Italy:  15 Gert Peens, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Pablo Canavosio, 10 Ramiro Pez, 9  Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellapè, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements:  16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Simon Picone, 21 Andrea Scanavacca, 22 Walter Pozzebon.

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Clyde Rathbone, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Steven Larkham, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Mat Rogers, 9 Matt Giteau, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Guy Shepherdson, 2 Brendan Cannon, 1 Al Baxter.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Nic Henderson, 18 Alistair Campbell, 19 Stephen Hoiles, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Mark Gerrard, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)