Italy hold on to defeat Wallabies

Sat, Nov 12, 2022, 2:20 PM
Nathan Williamson
by Nathan Williamson
The Wallabies travelled to Paris to face France in their second Spring Tour game of the 2022 campaign.

Italy have claimed their first win over the Wallabies, holding on for a 28-27 victory in Florence.

The hosts dominated the game, with electric fullback Ange Capuozzo crossing for a double as they stunned a new-look Australian side.

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The visitors fought their way back into the contest and tries to Tom Robertson and Caderyn Neville gave debutant Ben Donaldson a kick to win it after the siren.

However, the flyhalf pushed the kick to the right, giving the Azzurri a famous win.

“We didn’t play well enough,” Wallabies coach Dave Rennie put bluntly after the game.

“We turned over the pill too much, too many penalties. We gave them a head start, 17-3 gave them a lot of hope of enthusiasm and bought the crowd into the game.

“We’re well aware of the strengths of the Italian side so we needed to start well and we didn’t.”

The Wallabies were off their game from the opening kick-off as the Italians built pressure and opened the scoring via the boot of Tommaso Allan.

Noah Lolesio answered back but a yellow card to Jake Gordon in the 15th minute for taking Monty Ioane off the ball allowed the Italians to strike.

Four minutes later, winger Pierre Bruno tip-toed down the sidelines to score the first try of the game.

The Italians continued to dominate with Gordon in the bin and fullback Ange Capuozzo threw an excellent dummy to finish off a great backline move to take a 17-3 lead, stunning Dave Rennie’s men who struggled with discipline.

Tom Wright provided the spark needed, latching onto a looping Noah Lolesio cut-out ball as he contorted his body around the corner posts to touch down in the corner to reduce the margin to 17-8 at the break. 

They picked up where they left off in the second half, Fraser McReight burrowing his way over the line to reduce the margin to two.

From here, neither team could convert their chances as the hosts kept themselves in the game.

The Wallabies struggled to convert countless chances, gifting penalty opportunities to the hosts with some poor kicking from Allan keeping the visitors within striking distance.

Capuozzo and the Italians caught the Wallabies napping with a rapid play, allowing the fullback to dive over for a double.

The visitors responded almost instantly as Darcy Swain forced the turnover, with Taniela Tupou putting fellow prop Tom Robertson over in the corner.

Edoardo Padovani’s penalty extended the lead for the hosts to six points, setting up a grandstand finish.

Replacement Cadeyrn Neville looked to be the hero for the Wallabies, charging over the line to set up a match-winning opportunity for debutant Ben Donaldson.

In the end, his kick drifted away from the posts as a jubilant Italy outfit celebrated a breakthrough victory.

ITALY 28

TRIES: Bruno, Capuozzo 2

CONS: Allan 2/3

PENS: Allan 3/6, Padovani 1/2

WALLABIES 27

TRIES: Wright, McReight, Robertson, Neville

CONS: Lolesio 2/3, Donaldson 0/1

PENS: Lolesio 1/1

WALLABIES v ITALY TEAMS

Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Stephen Varney; 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti.

Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 David Sisi, 20 Toa Halafihi, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Edoardo Padovani , 23 Tommaso Menoncello.

Australia: 15 Jock Campbell, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Tom Wright, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Pete Samu, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Ned Hanigan, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Darcy Swain, 3 Allan Alaalatoa (captain), 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Matt Gibbon.

Replacements: 16 Lachlan Lonergan, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Cadeyrn Neville, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Jordan Petaia.

Referee: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)

Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland) & Adam Leal (Ireland)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

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