Wallaby playmaker determined to bury 2022 Italian demons
SPOTLIGHT: A Wallaby stalwart and playmaker is confident they can put their woeful Twickenham display behind them as they prepare to undertake the same awkward Italian job that derailed him and his teammates three years ago.
Scrumhalf Jake Gordon got an early spell in the bin back in the 2022 Test in Florence for an off-the-ball foul, during which time the Azzurri scored two of their three tries on the way to their first win over Australia in 19 attempts, stretching across 39 years.
Dave Rennie was at the helm for that humbling loss, and current coach Joe Schmidt has already quizzed his Kiwi friend and predecessor about that landmark 27-28 defeat.
He is adamant that the 2025 Italian team, which will feature their talented 2022 two-try tormentor Ange Capuozzo, is well equipped to repeat the dose in Udine if the Wallabies play as sluggishly as they did in the 7-25 loss to England on Saturday.
It’s important that the seventh-placed Australians rebound quickly because there are ranking points at stake as they seek to nail down the top-six spot that will give them a more comfortable 2027 World Cup draw.
Not hiding his dismay at their performance at Twickenham, the Waratahs veteran Gordon is still convinced the Wallabies will be a different proposition in Italy.
The article continues below…
“It’s disappointment,” said the 32-year-old, asked about the feeling in the squad.
“We came in with really high expectations. We believe we’re a quality team, and for a lot of the match, we just didn’t get it right.
“And when we did, and were in the game, we turned it over and didn’t look after the ball.
“But one thing we’ve done really well this year is that we’ve had some losses where we’ve been really disappointing, we’ve bounced back really well – and we’re looking to do that again.
“We’ve had the ability to do that, and you haven’t seen it too often from us when we’ve had back-to-back poor performances.
“Twickenham was a little bit frustrating, because it seemed like we just couldn’t get our game going at times.
“We had a few opportunities, where we probably didn’t look after the ball well enough.”
“We believe we’ve made massive growth, and people can believe we will do everything we can around preparing really well for this Italian team.
“We’re definitely not going to take this game lightly; they’re a quality team.”
Much-needed reinforcements will be available in the international window, with James O’Connor, Will Skelton, Tom Hooper, and Len Ikitau all set to inject a freshness that was clearly lacking on Saturday.
Tane Edmed’s place at No.10 looks vulnerable after a shaky afternoon at Twickenham, with Carter Gordon and O’Connor poised to take the reins.
Schmidt and Gordon can talk up the difficulty of the Italian job, but Australia, after four defeats in five matches, really can’t afford to slip up against the world’s 10th-ranked team, who’ve lost their last five Tests while conceding an average of almost 46 points a game.
There’ll be no excuses and plenty of questions should Schmidt’s men underperform again.
