Player ratings: Azzurri power
Italy did enough to give Australia a big fright as the two sides were locked at 6-6 going into half time, before the Wallabies took control later on.
The Azzurri did their reputation no harm, with their powerful pack dominating the scrums and the majority of the tight phases of the match.
They can be pleased with their efforts against one of the favourites to life the Webb Ellis Cup, but will be disappointed to have leaked four tries in the second half after such a good start to the game.
But there were plenty of heroes in a brave performance.
Timmy Hancox rates the Italian players:
15 Andrea Masi:
The fullback favoured the chip and chase put the Wallaby backs under a lot of pressure, and he was prepared to link up with the line and carry the ball up rather than playing a purely defensive role.
6/10
14 Tommaso Benvenuti:
Was never given much time and space to attack and remained fairly anonymous.
5/10
13 Gonzalo Canale:
Showed he has a good pair hands but picking up some loose passes cleanly and tackled his heart out for the team
7/10
12 Gonzalo Garcia:
He copped a nasty blow to the head inside the first 5 min, but stayed on for a s long as he could and was brave on crash ball for his team.
6/10
11 Mirco Bergamasco:
Banged over two kicks to tie things up, but his boot wasn’t faultless and he lacked the gas to keep up with the Wallaby flyer on a couple of occasions.
6/10
10 Luciano Orquera:
Not his best performance as he grows into the No.10 jersey, and his decision-making needs work as he wasn’t able to release his backline when there was good ball to play with.
5/10
9 Fabio Semenzato:
Did a great job of keeping the highly rated Will Genia honest, and his kicking over the top was remarkably accurate to pile the pressure on Adam Ashley-Cooper in particular with some high bombs.
7/10
8 Sergio Parisse:
A fine all-round game from the Italian captain, to show why he is rated one of the world’s premier No.8s. Excellent on defence and was tidy with ball in had, although it was a pity he butchered Italy’s best chance to score a try at the end of the game when he wasn’t able to control the ball at the back of the scrum.
7/10
7 Robert Barbieri:
The least impressive of the three Italian loosies, but Parisse and Zanni set the bar very high. Did his job at the breakdown without standing out.
5/10
6 Alessandro Zanni:
Very strong with ball in hand and his steely defence was outstanding in a highly impressive showing by the experienced back row forward.
8/10
5 Cornelius Van Zyl:
Was good in the air in the line-outs and added some valuable touches with ball in hand.
6/10
4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava:
Provided some grunt in the engine room behind the front row in the scrums and was a good first receiver to carry the ball up.
6/10
3 Martin Castrogiovanni:
He squashed the fragile Aussie front row and had it all his own way against an out-classed and out-muscled Sekope Kepu to show how important a world class tighthead can be.
7/10
2 Leonardo Ghiraldini:
Was tidy with his line-out throwing and athletic in loose play getting around the park to make a number of tackles.
6/10
1 Andrea Lo Cicero:
Scrummed well in partnership with the rest of the classy forward pack who have mastered the dark art of the front row.
7/10
Replacements:
16 Tommaso D’Apice:
Not used.
17 Lorenzo Cittadini (on for Andrea Lo Cicero, 68th min):
Not long enough to be rated.
18 Marco Bortolami (on for Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 60th min):
Not long enough to be rated.
19 Paul Derbyshire (on for Robert Barbieri, 51st min):
Mad a massive tackle upon entry to the field and did some great defensive work with few attacking opportunities in the second half.
6/10
20 Edoardo Gori (on for Fabio Semenzato 70th min):
Not long enough to be rated.
21 Riccardo Bocchino (on for Luciano Orquera, 73rd min):
Not long enough to be rated.
22 Luke McLean (on for Gonzalo Garcia 61st min):
Not long enough to be rated.
