The Wallabies don’t need to look back far for a reminder of how dangerous Italy are as they prepare for Sunday’s crucial match in Udine.
The Australians have settled into northern Italy as they prepare for their first match against the Azzuri since the stunning 2022 upset in Florence.
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On that day, the hosts got their first win in 19 attempts over the Wallabies, with the visitors missing a kick after the siren to go down 28-27.
Prop Taniela Tupou is one of the few surviving members from that 23, with Tupou sparking the late comeback attempt with a powerful run to set up fellow front-rower Tom Robertson.
“It's a lesson for us to learn going into this game and not taking Italy lightly,” he explained.
“They're a good team and you can see what they've done against South Africa and in the Six Nations against some of the big teams and they've only lost by a try or something.
“We're going into this week prepping [for] a big game and expecting a big game against them.”
Tupou was one of the Wallabies’ best in the 25-7 defeat to England and called on the side to lift their set-piece.
This came after a late rolling maul try that saw the English march close to 25 metres down the field before hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie crashed over the line.
On top of this, they were penalised twice (one short arm, one full arm) at scrum time.
“We went over the game this morning, did our review and we know exactly what to do, what went wrong, and so we'll train there this week and we have to move big and prep for Italy,” Tupou noted.
“I thought we didn’t do well with our rolling maul in defending it. They scored one from the 22 and that wasn’t good enough.”
The Wallabies need victory to keep in touch with the top six of the World Rugby Rankings ahead of December’s 2027 World Cup draw.
They can leapfrog Argentina should they win and Los Pumas are upset by Wales.
