Wallabies get the better of plucky Italy

The Wallabies returned to winning ways when they claimed a 26-7 victory over Italy in their November international in Padua on Saturday.

Despite outscoring the Azzurri by four tries to one, this was far from a convincing performance from Australia, who were on the back foot for long periods especially during the second-half.

But despite dominating the possession and territorial stakes after the interval, Italy failed to capitalise on their superiority and the Wallabies eventually sealed their win courtesy of a Will Genia try in the game's dying moments.

Australia did most of the early attacking but had nothing to show for their efforts.

The game came alive in the seventh minute when Jayden Hayward made a superb line break which caught the Wallabies by surprise.  He kicked the ball upfield where Braam Steyn gathered deep inside the visitors' 22 and although he dotted down in the right-hand corner, his effort was disallowed after television replays revealed he had a foot in touch.

Three minutes later, Australia had a chance to take the lead when Tommaso Benvenuti made an early tackle on Adam Ashley-Cooper but Matt Toomua was off target with the resulting penalty.

Despite that miss, the Wallabies continued to attack but things went awry for the visitors in the 14th minute when Tito Tebaldi intercepted a pass from Jake Gordon — after a lineout close to the halfway line — and raced away before crossing the whitewash.  But, much to the Wallabies' relief, the try was ruled out when referee Pascal Gaüzère ruled that Tebaldi was offside when he gathered the ball.

The next 15 minutes was a tight affair as both sides spent time in their opponents' half but neither managed to trouble the scoreboard during this period.

However, things changed on the half-hour mark when Samu Kerevi got over the advantage line with a devastating run.  He threw an inside pass to David Pocock and he did well to offload to Marika Koroibete, who dotted down under the posts.

Five minutes later, the Wallabies increased their lead courtesy of another Koroibete try.  This, after Ashley-Cooper found himself in space down the right-hand touchline before he stepped inside and offloaded to his fellow wing, who went over for his second five-pointer.

Toomua converted both tries which meant the Wallabies led 14-0 at half-time.

Australia were fastest out of the blocks after the break and four minutes after the restart, Taniela Tupou shrugged off a challenge from Tebaldi inside Italy's 22 before powering his way over the tryline with Steyn on his back.

Toomua added the extras but two minutes later Mattia Bellini gathered a wayward pass from Bernard Foley, just inside Italy's half, and raced away before crossing for his side's only try which was converted by Tommaso Allan.

That try boosted the Azzurri, who spent most of the next 15 minutes camped inside the Wallabies' half.  And on the hour-mark, the home side received a shot in the arm when the Wallabies were reduced to 14 men after Scott Sio was yellow carded for a deliberate knockdown close to his try-line.

Italy continued to pile on the pressure but, after spending the next 10 minutes camped inside Australia's half, a handling error from Steyn was pounced on by Israel Folau, who gathered the loose ball before racing upfield, although Bellini did well to haul him in on the edge of the Azzurri's 22.

The game's closing stages was a tight affair but the Wallabies finished stronger and Genia made certain of the result in the 79th minute when he crossed from close quarters after Ashley-Cooper did well with a mazy run in the build-up.

The scorers:

For Italy:
Try:  Bellini
Con:  Allan

For Australia:
Tries:  Koroibete 2, Tupou, Genia
Cons:  Toomua 3
Yellow Card:  Sio

Italy:  15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Braam Steyn, 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dean Budd, 4 Alessandro Zanni, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (c), 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements:  16 Luca Bigi, 17 Cherif Traorè, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Johan Meyer, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Luca Morisi

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Jack Dempsey, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Jermaine Ainsley, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Will Genia, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Dane Haylett-Petty

Referee:  Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Assistant referees:  Andrew Brace (Ireland), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)