The Wallabies have quickly turned their attention to winning two Tests in a row for the first time this year after outclassing Italy 50-20.
Quade Cooper returned to his best and Israel Folau was almost untouchable as the Wallabies survived an early Azzurri scare at Turin’s Stadio Olympico on Sunday morning (AEDT) to register the first win of their end-of-season European tour.
It was a crucial result after winning just three of their 11 Tests this year and the possibility of dropping to No.7 in the world rankings with another loss.
Under immense pressure following last week’s 20-13 defeat to England, Australia’s forward pack largely repelled the strong Italian scrum to set a platform for the seven-tries-to-three victory.
The Wallabies’ front-rowers received special praise in the dressing room post-match and hooker Stephen Moore, who also set up superb try to Joe Tomane, was voted their ‘Man of Gold’ for his uncompromising display.
Winger Nick Cummins crossed twice to win the man-of-the-match award, but it was Folau and Cooper who shone brightest in attack.
Cooper threw the last pass for three of the five tries scored before he was given a well-deserved rest on the hour mark.
In his best Test performance since before the 2011 World Cup, the mercurial five-eighth showed the razzle dazzle for which he’s renowned by bamboozling a handful of Italian defenders to send Cummins over for his second try.
Captain Ben Mowen said the display was good for their confidence but his team wasn’t getting carried away with a tough Test against Ireland in Dublin to follow.
“We’ve already spoken downstairs about next week and we’re after two in a row,” Mowen said.
“I thought there was some great moments tonight with the interplay between the forwards and backs and that’s the hard work off the field paying off.”
The scoreline was in stark contrast to the opening 12 minutes as the home side jumped to a 10-0 lead with Townsville-born fullback Luke McLean finishing in a 70m counter-attacking try off another Will Genia box-kick that went wrong.
A three-try blitz in 19 minutes, inspired by Folau’s exploits out wide, had the Wallabies in control at 19-10 after half an hour and they never relented.
Italy’s fast line speed in defence put pressure on Australia’s attack, but Cooper and Matt Toomua were slick in moving the ball wide for Folau and Tevita Kuridrani to cut loose.
In-form flanker Michael Hooper again made plenty of yards with each touch, while the Azzurri pack couldn’t live up to their threats of dismantling the tourists’ scrum.
There were just as many penalties for Australia as their were for Italy and only once did the home forwards demolish the Wallabies scrum in the second half, but the visitors had their revenge on the very next set piece.
Pleased coach Ewen McKenzie wasn’t about to crow about the result considering he’s yet to enjoy back-to-back success since taking over from Robbie Deans.
“I won’t feel things are back on track until we bunch a string of wins together,” McKenzie said.
“We showed some potency on attack and we worked hard through that game to score those points.”