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The whole object of the northern hemisphere tour by the Wallabies is to get into a winning trot.
This ensures the next Tests, that are played in 2013 first up against the British and Irish Lions, have the side a winning and irresistible momentum.
The gutsy 22 – 19 victory over a well-coached and potentially very good Italian side revives the momentum that came with the hard-fought victory over England.
Now the Wallabies have to knock off Wales, a side that has suffered six Tests losses in a row and went down to the All Blacks on Sunday 33 – 10 their second worst loss at home in over 100 years of Tests.
It was clear from the passionate rendition of the Italian national anthem that Italy and their fans at the Stadio Artemio Franchi at Florence fancied their chances against the Wallabies.
This confidence was based on a splendid (if losing) display against the All Blacks, which the New Zealanders praised as their toughest match of the season. There was also a confidence that the Italian scrum would monster the Wallabies in a similar fashion to the way the French scrum (helped in a way, in my opinion, by some generous refereeing by Welshman Nigel Owens) got on top of Wallabies in the opening match of the tour.
The coaching of Jacques Brunel, the new coach of the Azzurri, has to be praised, too. He has, in a short time, modernised the Italian game by introducing a wider and more expansive ball-in-hand approach to the side’s attacking play.
In the past, Italy has relied virtually entirely on its powerful scrum to try and force wins. The side still has its strong scrum, although it is not as powerful as some northern hemisphere referees believe.
Coach Brunel has selected a terrific back row, a trio that can match that of France and is ahead of any other back row in European rugby. And an excellent halfback combination, with Edoardo Gori being absolutely outstanding.
For the Wallabies to defeat this excellent Italian side, there had to be a strong scrumming effort. And just as importantly, the South African referee Lourens van der Merwe had to judge what happened in front of him, as Romain Poite did in the England – Australia Test. By and large van der Merwe did this. His calling of SET! was far too slow. The first scrum took three minutes to resolve with a short arm penalty given against the Wallabies. Then the Azzurri pack was held when it tried to milk a penalty by holding the ball in the back.
I liked the attitude of the Wallabies forwards as several scrums were packed down by the inexperienced (three Tests only) referee.
After one of the abortive scrums I heard through the ground microphone as laconic Australian voice call out: ‘F…..g great hit, boys.’ And after the final scrum in this first series: ‘Good scrum!’
There was one scrum penalty given against the Wallabies. But to their credit and to the credit of the referee, he did not fall for the Italian pack’s penchant for milking penalties. In my opinion, the scrumming of Martin Castrogiovanni is totally over-rated. As he did against the All Blacks (and was not penalised by a tolerant Alain Rolland), Castrogiovanni came up on most scrums – got away with this illegality!
Brett Sheehan became the second oldest Wallaby to start in a Test, behind Tiann Strauss. He played very strong until he injured himself and was replaced by Nick Phipps.
I chatted to a well-informed official on Friday and we both agreed that one of the positive aspects of the year of injuries for the Wallabies is that about a dozen or so new Wallabies have shown that they are up to Test standard. The advantage of this is that an extremely strong and competitive squad will be put together for the series against the British and Irish Lions.
Perhaps the outstanding success story of the new players is Nick Cummins, who scored the Wallabies’ only try in the Test. Cummins has shown terrific dash and energy in the Wallaby jersey, and also some storming defence. The Italians, with their ball-in-hand game did not subject him or Drew Mitchell the other (and largely innocuous) winger to the perils of the high ball.
But Cummins is definitely now ahead of Mitchell and possibly Ioane as a leading winger.
It was noticeable to me, too, that the Wallabies tried several set play attacking moves. The moves did not come off. Attack was difficult on a soccer field that was 6m too narrow. But the moves did force the Italian backs to stop their drifting and look to making tackles in the middle of the field. This in turn gave the Wallabies a bit of room on the outside when they tried to run back kicks.
Here Berrick Barnes was alternately good under the high ball, with his running and passing and then not so good when he inexplicably kicked away the ball with a running attack looking to be a better approach.
A backline of Kurtley Beale, Ben Tapuai and Adam Ashley-Cooper (so good under the high ball and on the tackle) looked like a promising trio to take into the Lions series. I think that this leaves James O’Connor as the back-up number 10 and full-time winger with a licence to roam over the field.
With Beale, Barnes and O’Connor, the Wallabies can have three play makers on the field. This offer opportunities for ball runners, if they take them.
Here, it has to be said, Sitaleki Timani had a terrible game. He looked to be tired, exhausted and lacked the energy to hold on to passes, or even get to passes directed towards him.
Credit has to be given, once again, to Michael Hooper who is now an essential part of the Wallaby pack, in my view. He provides most of the pack’s running and defence. If David Pocock comes back into the side, he should be played as a blindside flanker. This means that Pocock, like Richie McCaw, has to be an occasional lineout jumper. I am sure he is athletic enough to do this job.
I would make a further point about Robbie Deans as the Wallaby coach which is rarely if ever mentioned. And this is his courtesy to his critics. When he was asked about David Campese’s strong criticism that he was ruining Australian rugby, Deans replied that the great winger was welcome to come into the camp, as he has done before in handing out jerseys before a Test, to talk to the players.
He also extended the hand of friendship to Quade Cooper, despite his toxic (and patently wrong) comments and tweeting about his coaching and the Wallaby team environment.
Style has been described by Ernest Hemingway as ‘grace under pressure.’ Deans has shown that to his critics. There has been none of the nastiness of other Wallaby coaches like John Connolly and Eddie Jones (particularly) who have berated officials and journalists when things haven’t gone well with their team.
Deans, too, has steered the Wallabies with a calm skill through a difficult year with too many injuries by Australian players. There is just one game against a besieged Welsh side with a Wallaby victory allowing the team to end their season and go into the Lions series with a wet sail.