Wallabies blitz brave Italy
The Wallabies emerged from a first half struggle to turn on the after-burners for a comprehensive 32-6 win over Italy to spectacularly open their World Cup campaign in North Harbour on Sunday.
Locked up at 6-6 at halftime after first half trench warfare, Australia cut loose with 26 unanswered second half points to score a bonus point four-try victory and safely launch their bid for a third Webb Ellis Cup.
The Wallabies mastered the accomplished Azzurri forward pack in blustery conditions to set the platform for their exciting backline to unleash their speed and ball skills.
Flyhalf Quade Cooper started with crowd boos but finished to cheers as he provided the final pass for three tries.
Wing James O’Connor also paid his penance for missing an official pre-World Cup team function and entered the match off the bench seven minutes after halftime to take over the goalkicking duties from Cooper.
Such was the Wallaby dominance that coach Robbie Deans was able to bring off some of his big guns – Will Genia, Rocky Elsom, Dan Vickerman and David Pocock – and save them for coming battles.
Cooper’s first penalty attempt was greeted with boos from New Zealanders in the crowd following his ‘public enemy number one’ run-ins with All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
Australia got their first points after a whistle-happy opening 18 minutes when hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini was penalised for a late hit on Cooper.
Cooper, again to boos, landed the penalty with points hard earned in the swirling wind.
The Wallaby forwards hammered through the phases inside Italy’s quarter before another penalty by Cooper carved out a 6-0 after 30 hard-fought minutes.
The Italian pack had their first sustained drive inside Australia’s half and earned a penalty which winger Mirco Bergamasco kicked for 6-3 minutes before the interval.
Cooper then inexplicably elected to run a retrieved kick rather than kick it out and gifted Bergasmasco a second penalty in front right on half time to draw the teams level.
The Wallaby scrum was more than holding its own against the Azzurri as O’Connor was introduced after 47 minutes for Anthony Fainga’a with Adam Ashley-Cooper moving into the centres.
Digby Ioane broke free and linked with Radike Samo and Kurtley Beale before prop Ben Alexander powered over from a maul close to the line in the 51st minute for the Wallabies to edge to a 11-6 lead.
Gaps starting opening up in the tiring Italian defence and Cooper put Ashley-Cooper over untouched for the Wallabies’ second try five minutes later as the Australians stormed to a 18-6 lead.
O’Connor got into the act for the team’s third try off an inside ball from Cooper with the Wallabies in full flow.
Ioane clinched the scoring bonus point with the fourth try off Cooper’s pass again 13 minutes from time.
Italy’s day finished on a worrying note with talisman tighthead prop Martin Castrogiovanni limping off near the end with an apparent groin injury.
Man of the Match: Inspirational Wallaby skipper James Horwill is an obvious candidate – his leadership and powerful showing up front and in the line-outs held the team together.
Moment of the Match: Australia’s second try scored by Adam Ashley-Cooper took the game away from Italy, after the big man darted through a gap in the defence untouched thanks to a well-timed pass from flyhalf Quade Cooper.
Villain of the Match: There was no obvious candidate for villain, but after a great showing Italian captain Sergio Parisse butchered a try scoring opportunity near the end of the game. After the powerful scrum pushed the Wallabies over the tryline the No.8 lost control of the ball at the back when he should have scored a well deserved try.
The scorers:
For Australia:
Tries: Alexander, Ashley-Cooper, O’Connor, Ioane
Cons: O’Connor 3
Pens: Cooper 2
For Italy:
Pens: Bergamasco 2
The teams:
Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Anthony Fainga’a, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Radike Samo, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill (captain), 4 Dan Vickerman, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 James O’Connor.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Luke McLean.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland))
Assistant referees: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
AFP and rugby365.com
