Wallabies No.9 Will Genia says Italy will be encouraged by Australia's disappointing effort against England











Despondent ... The Wallabies were very ordinary against England at Twickenham. Source: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP




Australia has never lost to Italy, but so poorly did the Wallabies perform against England that halfback Will Genia has warned that the Azzurri will believe they now stand a genuine chance in Sunday's (AEDT) Test in Florence.



Australia has never lost to Italy, but so poorly did the Wallabies perform against England that halfback Will Genia has warned that the Azzurri will believe they now stand a genuine chance in Sunday's (AEDT) Test in Florence.
This is not the moment for ill-omens, with the Wallabies' confidence hitting the floor after they were comprehensively outplayed by England at Twickenham on the weekend, but the Florence Test will be the 13th between the two countries, with Australia so far having a clean sheet.
Not that the Italians don't have a few problems of their own after themselves being beaten on the weekend, 22-16 at the hands of the Argentina, but the Azzurri have won precisely four out of 29 Tests under their South African coach Nick Mallett and, frankly, have learned to pick their moments.
Genia's fear is that they might view this Test against a rattled Wallabies as one of them, especially since they were right in the contest when last they hosted Australia on Italian soil, in Padua in 2008, until Quade Cooper came off the bench to seal a squeaky 30-20 victory with a controversial late try on debut.
Tune into Fox Sports 2HD or Fox Sports 2 from 1am (EDT) on Sunday morning to see the Wallabies take on Italy live from Florence.
"After watching that (the England Test), they'll really want to have a go at us," Genia said. "We've just got to collect ourselves. You're always going to have bad performances.
"It's a cliche but you learn from it and move on. It's not the end of the world. The sun still rose today. We're still alive."
Alive, perhaps, but in Genia's case decidedly sore and sorry. Although the diagnosis is that he did not break his ribs when swamped by the England defence as he lunged for the tryline in what turned out to be the turning point at Twickenham, he might still have cartilage damage.
"I should be right to train Tuesday because the doc said it's just whether I can tolerate the pain and I'm good to go with the pain," he said.
The Reds' feisty halfback insists he is under no fitness cloud for the Italy Test but coach Robbie Deans has come to realise he has a Monty Python-style Black Knight on his hands where Genia is concerned. Whatever the injury, no matter how serious, Genia invariably dismisses it as a flesh wound.
Should his rib damage prove to be something more, Deans most likely would recall Luke Burgess to the starting side with uncapped Rebel Nick Phipps coming on to the bench.
But the coach would also have the option of moving Matt Giteau to halfback to give Berrick Barnes the chance to show his wares at inside centre.
James O'Connor will miss the Test against Italy after flying home to attend a friend's funeral.


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