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If ever there was a game that delivered up few surprises it would be tonight in Florence. Everything that you could expect happened: The Wallabies incurring numerous scrum penalties, the Italians uninspiring in attack, the Wallabies poor in execution, and the game mostly coming down to penalties. While the Wallabies prevailed over Italy 32-14, it was hardly a game to get inspired about.
Australia started well with a Berrick Barnes penalty and a Drew Mitchell try bringing them out to a 10-0 lead. All of the play was going Australia’s way at this point. An Italian 3-pointer not long after was quickly followed by another Australian penalty bringing things to 13-3 at the quarter mark. This is where things started to get a bit messy. Australia had a number of wasted opportunities; pushed passes and knock-ons. Italy made the most of their opportunities with two penalties bringing the score to 13-9 at half-time.
The start of the second half continued on with the dour fashion that the first finished in. In the next 30 minutes the Wallabies accepted their shortcomings in try scorings and started playing Italy on their own terms; with the boot. Berry Barnes kicked three consecutive penalties to bring the Wallabies out to a 22-9 advantage.
Then came the moment of surprise. Italy actually scored a try, albeit a somewhat dodgy one. From a dominant Italian scrum, Sergio Parisse knocked on into the Australian back row only for Robbie Barbieri to rumble over the line for an unconverted try. The Wallabies still held a a healthy 8 point lead with less than 10 minutes to go. These ten minutes were fairly unamazing, ending in a Rocky Elsom try from a loose ball out of an Italian scrum in the 81st minute. The Wallabies finishing the game 32-14 winners.
The Wash-Up:
The match delivered roughly what was expected. Nothing too inspiring. The positives were that Australia performed better than the last two meets in Italy in 2008 and 2006. The negatives were that the Wallabies just didn’t show the ruthless streak needed to consistently win tests. The scrum struggled and leaked a few penalties. Where they should’ve put the sword to Italy in the first half, they let the opposition back into the game for no reason other than a poor scrum and an inability to convert pressure into points.
This seems to be the defining differences between the All Blacks and the Wallabies at the moment. The Wallabies backs seem to have more X-factor but the ABs are just far superior at converting that pressure into points. Where the All Blacks would score a try and a conversion the Wallabies are lucky to get a penalty. This is an area that will need to be seriously addressed in order to be a real threat in next years World Cup.
One thing this game did prove, however, was that Italy won’t provide much threat next year. They’ll be a good workout for the forwards and a litmus test of how our scrum is fairing but there really is no serious threat out of the Italians.
Bring on France next week. More of the same style of forward play, only this time with the backs that can pose a real threat. This will be a good indicator of how accurate the England game is of where we are at. A tidy win over France would reaffirm our status as genuine contenders. Another loss will demand a long hard look at ourselves.
Man of the Match:
For Italy the player who clearly had the most impact was Martin Castrogiovanni. MC scored a good three or four penalties against an inexperienced James Slipper. This dominance diminished in the second half. Castrogiovanni’s front row partners in crime also deserve an honourable mention. As previously said, this was the only area where Italy had the upper hand.
For Australia two players stood out. This is no real surprise because it’s the same two players who have stood out all tour. David Pocock and Nathan Sharpe. It came as no surprise as these two were the first two players benched- Deans clearly protecting his valued players. Sharpie was immense around the field- taking restarts cleanly, pressuring the Italian line-out, and constantly making metres over the gain line. Pocock had a quite a good game. The Italian backrow had him closely watched all night, but he was in everything and he game room to the players around him. One of these boys really needs to take over as skipper because at the moment Elsom just isn’t cutting the mustard.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
It was good to see our kicks going over - would have been a rather different scoreline with the kicking percentages of previous games.
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
Not a real fan of fighting in the match but I LOVE that Rocky Elsom had his boys' back when they pushed Slipper. Then Quade Cooper steps in trying to break it up :/ how times change from last year's bad boy reputation off the field to breaking up fights on the field!
Also loving Rocky's last minute try; we couldnt handle a scrum all match and then last scrum in over time and he gets a try from it. Maybe not the most legit scrum but worth the points for us.
Sharpie is all class, belting out the anthem the second time - for that alone he gets MOM.
(I finally got to watch a whole 80 minutes of uninterrupted Wallabies rugby this year & just had to say something!!)
Congrats to the boys & AAC on his 50th test cap.
Last edited by laura; 21-11-10 at 13:20.
Yeah I woke up this morning thinking that I forgot to mention that. The bonus of Barnes is that you have a fairly reliable drop-goaler if need be, too. Even if he didn't nail one last night.
I don't disagree with the action but I do disagree with the reason. Rocky was getting pretty frustrated with the scrums at the point and there are better ways of venting that frustration if you are the captain. Elsom lets his actions do the talking more than his mouth and I'm not convinced that works. George Gregan was a great captain- even when he wasn't in form he was necessary because noone else could control the team and the referee like Gregan could.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Not patient when they should have been, pushing passes and offloads. And when they were patient, they made simple mistakes like knocking on with little defensive pressure. We were in the crowd in Florence and it wasn't a great spectacle of rugby. Thankfully they played with more composure in the second half so that there was no panic like in Padova 2 years before.
In this technological age, why can't the ref's audio equipment work for just 80 mins? It added to the stop-start pace of the game.
Noriega needs to be sacked as scrum coach.
Can't explain why the Wallabies were so flat - they need to lift against the Froggies, or we'll get beaten easily.
All players need to learn the second verse of our anthem!!!
Agreed. I think Rocky's agression is a key part of his game and since being captain he's had to hold back a bit & it just looks bad coming from him as captain. I think it's high time Sharpie was promoted to captain and Rocky was let to play his rugby like he used to. I don't think it would be a hard transition for the team to have Sharpie as captain and he talks to the ref a fair amount anyway.Originally Posted by James
Of the same ilk I presume....oh wait, does that mean you like a tahs player GigsOriginally Posted by GIGS20
??
Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea:
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia fair,
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia fair.
Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands,
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia fair.
not bad beejay,considering you must be on your 2nd bottle of vino!
who needs google when you have TWF: http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=19227
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
I belted it out hard from the stands in Florence yesterday!
Actually in its original form there were 5 verses....
"with courage let us all combine to advance Australia fair" sends a particularly relevant message to our scrum...
opening third bottle of Chianti as we speak, BG...
Originally there were 4, then we added a new 3rd to make it 5 and the link I posted above also includes the "lost" 6th verse ... "Officially" we only use 2 for the national anthem
You were there? Bastard ...
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.