Australia managed to overcome a spirited Italian side 30-20 at the Padova stadium on Saturday.

The two time world champions were tied 20-20 with eight minutes to go when debutant Quade Cooper stepped his way through a couple of would- be Italy tacklers to put them in the lead 27-20 in the 74th minute.

The 10th-ranked Italians put up a brave performance against the Wallabies who struggled to find cohesion for most of the game.

Stirling Mortlock opened the scoring after two minutes with a well taken penalty to put the Australians in the lead 3-0. Italy flyhalf, Andrea Marcato responded with penalty soon after to level the scores 3-3 after a shaky first quarter.

Shortly after the restart Timana Tahu made a lovely break shrugging off two tackles before off-loading to Lachie Turner who scored in the corner to give Australia an 8-3 lead.

Wallaby flyhalf, Berrick Barnes limped off soon after and was replaced by Matt Giteau.

A brilliant run by Italy fullback Andrea Masi set up Mirco Bergamasco, for Italy’s only try to give them a 14-11 lead nearing the halfway mark. But, Italy's ill-discipline at the breakdown led to a Giteau penalty on the stroke of halftime and the two teams went into the break 14-all.

Australia upped the tempo in the opening stanza of the second half with Giteau keeping the scoreboard ticking with another penalty two minutes into the second half.

Replacement Italy flyhalf , Luciano Orquera kept the Azurri in the game with two penalty’s which saw the sides going into the final quarter locked at 20-20.

Italy started believing that they could pull of the historic win and the Padova crowd were behind them in full force.

But just as it looked as if Italy might be able to hold on for a famous result, substitute Cooper, jinked his way pass four Italy defenders to dive over for the winning try.

Giteau converted and added a late penalty finally put the game beyond doubt. Man of the Match: Andrea Masi

Moment of the Match: Quade Cooper’s decisive try in the 74th minute.

Villain of the Match: Nobody.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries: Turner, Cooper
Cons: Giteau
Pen: Mortlock (1), Giteau (4)

For Italy:
Tries: Bergamasco
Pen: Marcato (2) Ongoro (2)
Drop goals: Marcato

Teams:

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Andrea Marcato, 9 Pablo Canavosio, 8 Sergio Parisee (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Tommaso Reato, 19 Alessandro Zanni, 20 Giulio Toniolatti, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Matteo Pratichetti

Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Timana Tahu, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Hugh McMeniman, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Matt Dunning, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Wycliff Palu, 19 David Pocock, 20 Matt Giteau, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 James O'Connor.

365

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