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Mitchell: Early try
Australia claimed their second win on their November tour with a 32-14 win over an ill-disciplined Italian outfit.
In a match that lacked any really quality, it was the boot of Berrick Barnes that ensured that Robbie Deans' men picked up the second scalp on their end-of-year tour. However, it was far from a performance that will quell the growing discontent amongst the Australian press and public.
While the Australian scrum showed some signs of stability against Munster, on Saturday the front-row again suffered the indignity of conceding penalties at almost every scrum. The line-outs didn't fare much better with Stephen Moore often failing to find his jumpers.
Barnes set the tone for the match when he opened the scoring in the third minute with his first of six penalties.
Drew Mitchell claimed the visitors' first five-pointer of the encounter in the ninth minute when he crashed over from five minutes out after Australia went close in the right hand corner, there was some suspicion that the pass to Mitchell was forward but referee Berdos was happy.
What followed was a mêlée of forward grind from both sides that failed to yield any substantial gain. It was the Italians propensity to concede penalties at will within their own half that ensured the Wallabies continued to stretch their lead, one that stood at 13-9 at the break.
Neither side saw fit to involve their wide men with any regularity, with Adam Ashley-Cooper barely touching the ball during his 50th game for the Australians. Indeed, Italian full-back Luke McLean seemed so surprised to be passed the ball as the Italians broke down the right hand touchline that he fumbled the ball with the try-line in his sights.
Barnes continued to show great accuracy with his place-kicking but it was the Azzurri who were next to cross the whitewash. From a scrum five metres from the line, skipper Sergio Parisse picked up from the back of the scrum and drove forward, the ball dropped backwards in the tackle and replacement Robert Barbieri dived over the line.
With just under ten minutes to go and the deficit reduced to just eleven, the home side briefly held hopes that an unlikely victory could be recorded, but Rocky Elsom crashed over in the last movement of the game after the ball spewed out of an Italian scrum to ensure there was no late charge.
Man of the match: The Italians certainly played with great courage and for all the interest surrounding his debut, Edoardo Gori enjoyed a productive start. But it was the boot of Berrick Barnes that was the difference between the two teams.
Moment of the match: Such was the dire nature of play that a rather humorous incident in which Drew Mitchell's tattooed backside got extended airtime provided one of the few reasons to smile during the 80 minutes.
Villain of the match: The Australian scrum were at their appalling best in Florence. James Slipper was the primary culprit, conceding three penalties at scrum time before he was substituted in the second-half. But Slipper was not alone, with Benn Robinson and Ben Alexander also falling foul of the referee's whistle.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Barbieri
Pens: Bergamasco 2, Orquera
For Australia:
Tries: Mitchell, Elsom
Cons: Barnes 2
Pens: Barnes 6
The teams:
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Andrea Masi.
Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Will Genia, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Pat McCabe.
Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
Comments
carpelone says...
@ Andrew1.
I may agree with you. A good player has to adapt to the on-going refereeing, in a similar way McCaw does at the breakdown or the Aussies use decoy runners. We all think that he always gets away with much more that the laws would allow. I honestly think that once you get a better fix at scrum level, you can be a title contender next year.
Still convinced that Giteau-Barnes is a better mix than Cooper with somebody else.
Posted 20:38 22nd November 2010
macte says...
I'm an Australian born living in in Italy, so maybe I saw the game with different eyes. Italy's scrum was better than Australia's, and that's it. As it was better than Argentina's and better that NZ's. Come on, we all know that it's not a matter of refereeing, but it's the only strength of a very boring team. Italy has the ability to turn every game they play into 80 minutes of yawns.
Posted 17:50 22nd November 2010
Lucasrg says...
The day Italians will finish these streak of mistakes, is gonna be the day we eill enter in the top 10 nations. Too many passing mistakes, attack redoundacy and knockons...enough. If there is one aspect we seems founf very difficult is our attacking options. Always too predictable. I didnt see Luke Macklain fit today at all. Scrum is always good and defence, even at times deperate, one of the best out there. The most funny thing is that a country that is afflicted by football, can't find a proper kicker! Anyways, things can only get better.
Merit too Australia that could take advantage of all Italian mistakes and making a profit. at International level that helps too. Bravi Australiani :-)
Posted 15:21 22nd November 2010
andrew1 says...
@ Carpelone - Come on you say? Did you watch the second half?
"Come on! The situation got even worse for Oz after Castro went out!"
Were you watching the same game as the rest of us or are not familiar with the laws of the scrum?
The situation on the australia's loose head got better when he went off because the Italians had a change of tactics - keep the tighthead side up and we will attack thru our loose head - it was clear as day if you go and watch the replay. You lay blame at the wallabies scrum but you totally miss giving credit to the italian bookends or the italian coaches for their plan of attack at scrum time - which i may say was illegal. In saying that a better referee would have picked up on both tactics of the italian props. Australian supporters do not mind seeing their scrim being demolished by better international scrums legally but what annoys us Australians is when the referee fails to act and Australia get lumped with the tag can not scrum at all - we are not a dominate scrum but when given a chance we can contest.
Posted 12:24 22nd November 2010
Vagabond says...
Some good points raised all around in this discussion. I guess the factor that upsets me the most with this Wallabies team is the lack of passion. At times they can play with great skill but they rarely show passion in their performances.
Posted 04:20 22nd November 2010
CrashBall says...
I have to agree with andrew1, and had a good discussion with a mate about it yesterday. I think the Wallaby scrum copped the blame for what was actually an imbalance in experience - the experience of castro (who may just be the best tighthead in the world, by the way) versus the experience of the ref(s).
Otherwise, we were guilty of pushing passes and trying to score off every line break or half break. But I tend to think you can't laud the "young bucks" one week for their breathtaking and risk taking type of play, then bag them the next week when it doesn't come off.
Chalk another one down to experience (this week's lesson - don't push the pass) and hope it sticks in there for next time they are under pressure.
Posted 22:24 21st November 2010
Carpelone says...
Now on Italy.
I must acknowledge the work done by Nick Mallet in terms of attitudine and team spirit. No match against Italy is a try feast anymore.
Forwards are good at set apiece (although the line out can be improved), they need to improve in the loose and be dangerous out wide (see NZ is scoring tries with forwards playing as backs).
Parisse's leadership must step up. His erratic decisions (too arrogant and selfish options taken in two try's opportunities and not to kick in the second half against Argentina) have costed Italy the game.
Italian backs are improving, even though not having a line breaker (think of NZ w/o Gear or England w/o Ashton). Benvenuti was out of position and it showed, although the guy could be a good prospect.
The real problem of Italy is the kicking game. Opponents know this, so they wait Italy up front and it is extremely difficult to find gaps against organised defenses.
Since Diego Dominguez retired, Italy has not found a decent fly-half yet, capable of alternate first phase charges with clever kicking (see how Carter frustrated the Irish with his kicking in the second half, NZ's chances to succeed next year depend upon his health). Until Mallet does not fix this, Italy will struggle. Gori had a good debut, it was a good decision to send Tebaldi down to Italy A team to think about his disply against Argentina.
The competition in the Celtic League proved not to be enough to solve Italy's issues (it is not about intensity, or not only, but it is mainly about the fly-half puzzle).
Posted 10:43 21st November 2010
Carpelone says...
Come on! The situation got even worse for Oz after Castro went out! It is fair to say that Wallabies would be a title contender should they find a decent front row. SH's team (especially Australia and NZ) have to come to terms with scrummage, which is still an integral part of the game, as far as I know. You can not play the game with 15 backs yet. Robbie Dean's whinging is phase 2 of the one of his fellow countrymen last year, when their front row was enormously exposed in San Siro. As a result of this and of consequent Paddy O'Brien's follow-up, Italy got all the whistles against during the Six Nations. Just admit that, although SH's teams are still far better, the gap in some departments is closing. By the way, nobody of that AB's front row have featured again in the AB's squad, and this was an AB's management decision, I guess.
I liked Oz's attitude in the second half to kick whatever was kickable. During RWC, you will always find a game in which not everything is working as you want (right, AB?) and you have to take yourself home with all the ways and means, including bagging in three pointers after three pointers.
AB's management has not realised yet that it is impossible to play next year semi against SA with the same gameplan of yesterday against Ireland, humility helps in winning important games when your scrum and your line-out will be contested by a far better pack.
Posted 10:17 21st November 2010
andrew1 says...
@ Trinats
I could not agree more with your statement "Who wrote this article? did they actually watch the game? or went off some blog they read?"
The best part of the article "Villain of the match: The Australian scrum"
Villian of the match was referee (could not referee the scrum to save himself) and Australia's general approach to the game.
And how about the last play of the game sums up the refereeing the ball went out the tunnel - it should have been a re set. At least the referee was consistent with his play on call - mind boggling.
Posted 08:13 21st November 2010
andrew1 says...
I do not know who had the worst performance the Wallabies or the referee? The Wallabies looked to score off every phase - they should have shown the Italians more respect and points would have come. Italy only feed off of the Wallabies mistakes - their only try came from some laughable refereeing.
The whole refereeing performance (including the assistant referees) was not up to international standard. The Italians scrummaged illegally but got away with it - good luck to them. It is a the job of the referee to pick up on these things - too much reputation refereeing instead of refereeing what is in front of you (ie Martin Castrogiovanni angling in on most scrums - the only time he did not was when the referee was standing on his side and the other time is when he gave away a penalty after half time and Andrea Lo Cicero did not take his bind immediately on most scrums which meant the scrums went down).
Slipper and Alexander contested at scrum time when they were allowed to - as a wallaby supporter I was happy to see that - I do not have unrealistic expectations that the Wallaby scrum will dominate every scrum in the world - they are not that good -but when allowed to they are able to contest and the ball can be released from either our ball or the opposition's without a penalty been blown.
In all the game was non spectacle because the Wallabies did not show any composure with the ball in hand (too many 50/50 offloads), the refereeing was substandard right across the board (set piece, tackle ruck maul) and the Italians have nothing in their game apart from their scrummaging.
Posted 04:57 21st November 2010
startledwombat says...
Next week the Australian Government completes its review of 'anti-siphoning' rules (read: deciding which sport broadcasting goes to Pay TV and is never seen free-to-air. Pay TV is expensive in Australia and grabs all the carrots it can get to attract the punters). Rugby might be one of the sports locked out from free-to-air broadcast.
The prospect of never seeing the Wallabies play becomes somewhat less distressing, when the Wallabies play as they did today in Florence. In fact, the impartial bystander would call it a blessing.
On the other hand, Pay TV subscribers would call it a rip-off.
Posted 03:33 21st November 2010
Ausbrad says...
good performance.... from Barnes that is, hopefully he can be a little more consistent with goal kicking duties unlike his predecessors. It's taken them along time to give him the job - he kicked well for USyd in the shute shield this year. I think they should give him the 10 jersey too, if Cooper can't goal kick, he's no good to the team cause I don't think there's room for both of them plus Giteau. (Maybe keep Cooper+Barnes at 10 & 12 and put Gits on bench as an impact player???) Why is it that we have no goal kicking no. 10s??? It's a real standard attribute for a number 10 e.g. Steyn, Carter, Wilkinson, Beauxis, O'Gara, Parks, Jones, Contepomi etc.
Now all we need to do, is fix up the scrum - all the other problems that have crept into the team over the last 2 weeks are a result of Deans tinkering with key combinations in the team, trying to find an even better one - they will be ironed out by the time the rwc comes round. Afterall it was only 3 matches ago that we beat the world's best team - and it could have been a whole lot more convincing in Hong Kong if we hadn't missed all those shots at goal!
Posted 00:28 21st November 2010
JeanLucJoinel says...
fear not. lievremont will field a side featuring half a dozen members of the Besancon Ladies Amateur Tag rugby side , as part of his experimental policy and Australia will romp home 3-0 next week.
Posted 23:49 20th November 2010
7nezking says...
C'mon vagabond, we've still got a long way to go till the WC. Remember apart from the England crowning in 2003 no WC winner was a team in superb form before the tournament (I'm only talking about the post-1995 era). The All Blacks in 2003 put +50pts against the Wallabies in what?...2-3 months before the WC?
To be honest though, I really don't see how NZ can not win the WC next year, but looking back to the previouis WC, I hope the aussies will get their 3rd one.
Posted 23:43 20th November 2010
Trinats says...
Who wrote this article? did they actually watch the game? or went off some blog they read?
"there was some suspicion that the pass to Mitchell was forward but referee Berdos was happy" Where was the suspicion of a forward pass? The Italian try had two knock ons in it, yet they were missed (as the TV official can't rule on what happens proceeding the try)
As for the scrum it was the experience of Castrogiovanni cheating by turning in at contact that had the scrum a farce. A good ref would have picked it up early on. It wasn't until half time break (Paddy O B must have said something to him) that Australia got a penalty for the same thing Castrogiovanni was doing the first half. Fitting that the Australia scrum hold on and force a turnover to score a try in the final play.
As for the Wallabies, they look as if they just don't want to be out there at the moment. Frustrating to watch, looked as if it would be a cricket score in the first 10 mins of play, but then they switched off and made too many errors. Need to settle down and not try and score off every play. That should have been picked up by Elsom (maybe the captaincy shuold be handed to Sharpe or player of the year Pocock) .
Posted 23:37 20th November 2010
Bingin says...
Disgraceful reporting, condescending to the Italians, no game in Italy is easy. Don't forget the Italians utterly dismantled the NZ scrum last year, should have had 2 penalty tries and the kiwis only just snuck home (despite the moaning of the kiwis greatest asset, OBrien). No one gets away lightly.
Posted 23:01 20th November 2010
Islander says...
There's still alot of time for improvement.
Posted 22:36 20th November 2010
Clayton26 says...
But boy, how good was that helter skelter play by the ABs under Mitchell and Deans?...except the World Cup Semi
Posted 22:06 20th November 2010
KiwiLad says...
Vagabond Cast your mind back to the All Blacks under the leadership of Robbie Deans and john Mitchell..
A foward pack without a major heart in it and a brand of helterskelter rugby that proved to be no where near consistent enough... Sure a front row would help.
sadly for you that victory in Hong Kong will be enough to keep Deans in his job
Posted 20:30 20th November 2010
timbo262 says...
any game where you score over twice as many points as your opposition is a good win in my mind, give the aussies a break (and that's coming from a kiwi)!
Posted 20:18 20th November 2010