Connolly relieved as Aussies see off ‘ever-improving’ Italians

AUSTRALIA coach John Connolly was mightily relieved to see his side avoid a major upset against a spirited Italy in the second of their four-game European tour.

A dominant pack helped Italy open up an early nine-point lead, but three unanswered Australian tries eventually saw the visitors clinch a hard-fought 25-18 victory. All of Italy’s points came from Ramiro Pez’s boot, which landed six penalties.

While the Azzurri were giving Australia a fright here on Saturday, Argentina, Italy’s opponents next weekend, were defeating world champions England at Twickenham. Connolly was far from surprised to see the underdogs closing the gap on rugby’s hierarchy.

“There are no easy games in top-level rugby nowadays,” said the Aussie coach, whose team were held to a 29-all draw by Wales last week.

“I’m not surprised that Argentina beat England, or that Italy gave us a fight today. These teams are improving all the time.

“Italy’s backline has a long way to go, but their forwards are very tough. More of their squad are starting to play in France and England and that is helping them immensely in terms of experience.

“Italian rugby is on the up, and if you don’t treat them with the respect they deserve, they’ll beat you.”

Connolly refused to blame rotation for his team’s disjointed performance.

“We kicked poorly and gave Italy too many opportunities, but experimentation is no excuse,” he said.

“We always realised it was going to be difficult, and that Italy’s strength was their forward play. We knew we couldn’t afford to give them penalties early on, but we did, and that gave them control.”

Aussie captain Stirling Mortlock, scorer of his side’s third try, admitted the Wallabies were given the run around in the opening quarter.

“We hardly touched the ball in the first 15 minutes, and with no possession we were unable to establish a rhythm,” said the outside centre who contributed another 10 points with his kicking.”

Italy coach Pierre Berbizier said the game would gauge how far his team had come since he took the reins 18 months ago.

“It’s very encouraging for the future,” said the Frenchman.

“In the end it was down to small details, and silly mistakes cost us dear.

“But we will learn and grow from this experience. We were playing one of the best teams in the world today.”

Italy captain Marco Bortolami felt his side missed a great opportunity to beat the two-time World Cup winners.

“We are not satisfied,” he said. “We are angry and frustrated, we could have won today.

“We have improved the scrum, but we let ourselves down in the line out. We need to spend time working on that.”

ITALY: Peens, Robertson, Canale, M. Bergamasco, Canavosio, Pez, Griffen, Lo Cicero, Festuccia, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Bortolami, Zanni, M. Bergamasco, Parisse.

AUSTRALIA: Latham, Rathbone, Mortlock, Larkham, Tuqiri, Rogers, Giteau, Baxter, Cannon, Shepherdson, Chisholm, Sharpe, Elsom, Smith, Palu

Referee: Nigel Owens (WRFU).