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Deans moans about Italy cunning
November 21, 2010
Click for more photos Australia defeat Italy in Florence
Australian fullback Kurtley Beale (C) argues with Italian players. Photo: AFP
FLORENCE: Australia coach Robbie Deans moaned about Italy's cunning scrum play as his team battled to a hard-earned 32-14 victory here on Saturday.
Australia scored two tries to one by the Azzurri and Berrick Barnes also knocked over six penalties in a game that although at times fairly close provided little in terms of suspense.
The only real success the Azzurri got in the game was from forcing penalties at the scrum, but Deans felt those weren't fair.
"I feel the tight-head (Martin Castrogiovanni) gets far to much pay for rolling in and (referee) Christophe Berdos was going round the other side and getting it wrong," he said.
"He's an experienced tight-head so he plays the game, he knows where the ref is and chooses his moments cleverly and they profitted from that.
"But (Australia loose-head) James Slipper did very well, the boys worked their way through those challenges."
One of the few times the scrum went against Italy was in the final action of the game when the ball popped out the side and Rocky Elsom was left free to just pick it up and score.
"I think it was an exceptional try," he joked before praising Italy's scrum.
"When we were packing against them the ball would just sit there right in the middle which shows the confidence they had in their scrum, but if they stepped back it came right over to our side.
"That one was in the danger zone but you have to give them credit for having that confidence in their scrum."
As for Australia's attacking, Elsom said they could have done better.
"Some of the choices we made weren't ideal but you've got to take the good with the bad sometimes," he said.
"Particularly in the second half they were willing to give away penalties and ultimately they put too much distance between them and us. It's a test match and we're happy with the win."
Italy's South African coach Nick Mallett was delighted with his team's defensive performance and defended the lack of success they had up front.
"I don't think the attack wasn't good, we had a chance when Luke McLean passed to Tommaso Benvenuti and he dropped it but if McLean feints, Curtley Beale had gone over when he got the ball and it would have been a try under the posts," said Mallett.
"We did well on the turnover even if we didn't go forward. Obviously we don't have players of the same level as (Australia fly-half) Quade Cooper but we have good players and we shouldn't say they can't attack. We'll keep working and it will come in the future.
"The spirit of a team is not how they attack but how they defend and we had 22 players who gave their all.
"I'm disappointed about the last try because 25-14 (the score before Elsom's try) was a fair score for this game and the last try was a real kick in the teeth given the great work we did in this game."
Italy captain Sergio Parisse said it was a much improved performance from their 22-16 defeat to Argentina last week and he also praised Mallett's bravery in giving 20-year-old Edoardo Gori his debut.
"Of course we're a bit more satisfied with this game than last week's because Australia are a team that play a lot of attacking rugby and it's difficult to defend," he said.
"We did well in defence, they scored only two tries and the second was a present from us.
"We're satisfied also with the choices Nick made because he takes the responsibility when things go badly so he should take the credit when they go well.
"Picking a 20-year-old debutant at scrum-half who has never even played a top level game was a risk but he had a great game against a great team."
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...121-1827w.html