Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: The Wallabies cruise to victory over Italy

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Wallabies cruise to victory over Italy

Young James O'Connor marked his first start in a Test match with a hatrick as Australia comfortably beat Italy 31-8 at a chilly Canberra Stadium on Saturday.

The Wallabies scored five tries to one as the Six Nations wooden spooners were never in the contest, plunging to their ninth consecutive Test loss.

The 18 year old O'Connor started the Test at fullback and showed surprising confidence and class for such an inexperienced youngster. He brought up his hatrick after easily barging through Italian number 8 Sergio Parisse.

"I'm pretty stoked with that, I was probably in the right place at the right time with some opportunist tries," O'Connor said.

"I found out early in the game that the Italians are pretty physical and I got dumped, but once we struck with our structure and played our game plan it really worked out well for us."

Stirling Mortlock and Matt Giteau scored a try each, while Giteau kicked three conversions.

The Wallabies will be satisfied with the win, but not entirely happy with their performance, and will look to iron out some creases when they meet Italy again in Melbourne next weekend.

Note: We'll try get better/longer highlights soon.

I don't think it being 1 degrees and the field covered in dew helped anyone lol.

That's why no one likes Canberra :P

By Phil, at June 13, 2009 3:21 pm
O'Conner is unbelievable for being so young.... what a pain for the rest of the world :P

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 3:21 pm
mortlock immense despite throwing the ball away at one stage, italy should have forced a try before half time, aussie number 17 repeated infringements he showed himself to be a cheater, not a bad game, good aussie team developing for the next WC.

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 3:28 pm
I ask again,
will you post the massive hit on the ref in the s14 final?

By Rugby guy, at June 13, 2009 4:30 pm
Rugby Guy, this is not the place for requests..

By ClickResquests, at June 13, 2009 5:01 pm
Rugby guy... go away...
sweet 1st test match for O'Connor!
must be feeling pretty good right now
Italy's try was beasting at it's finest!

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 5:11 pm
i'd hardly say that oconnor kid easily barged through parise, he caught him off balance. the kids got nothing on the italian machine that is parise

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 5:33 pm
Ha, Parisre, got shrugged off by an 18 year old fullback, and people say he's a machine.
Soft as shite more like.

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 5:49 pm
anonymous above go fuck yourself. if he's soft as shite why was parisse nominated for irb player of the year?
poor result from italy, although id say o'connor did nothing spectacular as he was set up for 2 of his 3 tries only hards from the try-line. no need to hype up about him yet.
that try from italy was the best iv seen from them since the six nations in 2007. hopefully they can play better in their next encounter.

By samitarugby, at June 13, 2009 6:23 pm
Parise needs a rest poor guy. he has played a long season with stade Francais and has worked his socks off for Italy everytime. He needs a rest otherwise he will burn-out IMO.

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 6:37 pm
Best Midfield in the world that.

Giteau is incredible, that offload was lovely.

But they'll be disappointed with some of the game.

I'd give them a B-, with room for improvement.

By goodNumber10, at June 13, 2009 6:44 pm
the day i heard of o'connor i knew i'd like him.. jesus such talent ! :D haha and i love how he just shoved parise away. lovely

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 7:14 pm
The other day I was thinking to myself, "Someone needs to level that O'Connor boy in an international", and so I must thank Bergamasco for that monster tackle he put in on him.

By T, at June 13, 2009 7:27 pm
Great game by th wallabies.. My only question is, how did they perform in the scrum?

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 7:54 pm
runnin over parisse u mean ducking under him

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 8:10 pm
The Italians looked like a school boy team. Their defense was dog legged and the offense was lacking. I love the Italians but the urge just to coach them for a day and tap all that talent thats being wasted by bad game plans is annoying, parisse cant do everything no matter how big a god he is. We have seen how brilliant and dangerous they are in this match and against wales in this years six nations. Such a shame they deserve better.

By Morris, at June 13, 2009 8:36 pm
when push comes to shove, an experienced international has to make those tackles, no doubt Sergio Parisse is a talented player, but he got beaten.. It's the way things happen. Whether or not he had to work for his tries is beside the point, the only poor tries are the ones that don't get scored, 5 pts are 5 pts.

By Tyler, at June 13, 2009 10:19 pm
surely some crossing for mortlocks try

By Anonymous, at June 13, 2009 11:33 pm
T - someone needs to level that Oconnor kid ???

You sick f*ck !!

The kids 18 - playing like the super star he clearly is - and your wishing violence against him

Cos he is better than you ? please let us know im trying to work it out and after you have get lost

By aussierugbyfan, at June 14, 2009 12:53 am
Morris said - I love the Italians but the urge just to coach them for a day and tap all that talent thats being wasted by bad game plans is annoying,

I know exactly what you mean, so frustrating to watch. As they are almost always expected to be beaten by any other top nation and therefore with nothing to lose you would think they could be more adventurous and unorthodox and try and carve out a style of their own - they might even pick up a few more wins that way.

By MartyB, at June 14, 2009 2:44 am
both teams had good bits but Italy made Oz look better than they were.
the first Oz try looked like a training drill.
I don't think this test or the AB/Fr test say anything for TN form.

By delroy, at June 14, 2009 2:52 am
Australia were still rusty, but won comfortably, it was never in doubt.
O'Conner played amazingly well, to get a hattrick on your starting test debut at the age of 18, you can't do much better than that.
For people saying let's not hype him, it's cuz you nothing of SH rugby, he's been preforming in the S14 for two seasons now, and now he gets a hattrick on his starting debut. He's just finished high school. Just like Giteau in alot of ways, and he turned out to be not too bad.
By the way, Australia won the scrummaging battle, turned the Italians several times and at one point crushed em like tin foil. Never lost a feed.
The Italians looked good with Gower controlling them, alot more dangerous.
That try was perfectly set up by Gower, taking it into the corner, dragging across the defence and then a beautiful flick pass behind the back. Great stuff.
The Aussies were rusty, and I expect a much more clinical dismantling of Italy next week.

By Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 3:02 am
Gotta love O'Conner shrugging off Parisse.
Frankly, while Parisse is a decent player, his being nominated for world player of the year was a joke and typically eurocentric of the IRB.
He got shrugged off by an 18 year back. Granted O'Conner is one of the best 18 year old backs there's ever been, but he still made a guy who's supposed to look like one of the world's best no 8s look like a chump.

By Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 3:27 am
Well if you actually saw the parisse play would understand why he was nominated as player of the year but your clearly an ignorant twat. he hasn't been claimed to be the best no.8 in the northern hemisphere for no reason. give him a break, he missed ONE tackle.

By Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 10:40 am
Wow, got you a bit fired up eh?
He's alrite, but one of the best in the world?
Get the fuck outa here.

By Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 11:38 am
well clearly he is one of the best.
bellend.

By Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 3:21 pm
Parisse missed a tackle. That doesn't make him a bad player. If you watced him in the Six nations he was easily the best forward in the competition....and that is saying somehting because italy were woeful and he had no support. It's hard to stand out in a team that is crap....fair play to Parisse.

By Anonymous, at June 14, 2009 4:57 pm
if you were o'connor's size would you want to run straight at parisse...rugby isn't just about running over people...it's also about using your brain and skills you dimwits

but it's also dumb to be calling parisse weak...he was outsmarted on that one occasion so o'connor better watch out in the next game...he'll make sure the 18 year old doesn't get past him again

By eco, at June 14, 2009 6:20 pm
Parisse didnt get knocked over- O'Conner stepped under his gaurd and caught him off balance.

By Edmund Scott, at June 14, 2009 6:55 pm
Parisse is a great player. He has to do everything in the Italian team (sometime even shoot dropgoals !!). he is the fighting spirit of this team and he is never slowing down.

Sometime I just wonder if he seems so bright because all of the other Italian players are crap : ).. (a bit harsh for this team which always show great will, but truly some of them do not have the International level)

He his skillfull, powerfull and smart on the field. Really a great player. Too bad some of you don't see it, you're missing something.

BTW : Allez les Bleus !! : )

By Ulf, at June 14, 2009 11:20 pm
The Italians had nearly as many players from the southern hemisphere playing for them as the aussies did!

Think they need to stamp down on all the imports and start trying to bring on Italian talent.
Playing all these imports isnt exactly encouraging young italians to play rugby (or develop the Italian game) really when they know that an aussie or kiwi can be shipped in to fill some positions instead of home grown players

By Anonymous, at June 15, 2009 3:00 am
Parrise's alrite, but getting nominated for world player of the year was an absolute joke.
The IRB is eurocentric, they arew based in Dublin and staffed largely by Europeans, so they lean towards players based in Europe.
It's fine, but it's true.
I just disregard their world player picks.

By Anonymous, at June 15, 2009 6:14 am
Clearly you didn't watch the six nations then. Parisse was able to make all the other five teams and his own look like school boys. He almost always makes yards after the tackle, he kicks, he tackles everyone (granted it was sloppy on o'connor) he sets up some beautiful tries for bergamasco from the set piece and has even scored drop goals for stade francais. He is the best 8 in the world because of his work rate, his strength in contact, his tackling and rucking abilities and on top of this he has the handling skills of an international centre. I can't see who in the world has shown that they are better than him.

By Anonymous, at June 15, 2009 12:17 pm
I didn't watch every game, probably half the games.
But I remain unconvinced. He's solid, a good no 8, but not the greatest.
I'd rather have Brown, Palu, Spies, Sol'iolo (can never remember how to spell his name) or even Harinordoquy.
He aint bad, but hardly the best player in rugby.

By Anonymous, at June 15, 2009 12:59 pm
The Aussie scrum was destroyed at the end of the game, but they were able to play well most of the time.

An Anonymous said that Italy has to develop their own talent; that's true, but if you look their domestic club competitions you'll understand why they can't bring on excellent players. Also it seems their coaches can't train backs (expecially flyhalves and fullbacks).

The best italian players in the team improved their skill by playing in the GP or Top14... so you can't expect much from the homegrown talents...

By Speedwagon, at June 15, 2009 3:04 pm
The Aussie scrum didn't get destroyed. When?

By Anonymous, at June 15, 2009 3:11 pm
In 2010 3 of Italy's top 10 teams will be joining the Magners league in a bid to boost native italian talent.

By rugbyazzuri, at June 15, 2009 4:23 pm
get the proper highlights in bro

By Anonymous, at June 15, 2009 7:48 pm
At the end of the game! The italians even took a penalty for that. However the aussie scrum did right for the first half (expecially when they pulled the italians back of the oz tryline).

Rugbyazzurri, I hope the italian's inclusion into the Magners League will boost the whole movement! But they have to focus on the training of the backs, otherwise their problems wont change.

By Speedwagon, at June 15, 2009 11:04 pm
go the wallabies :) , i want forwards who can pass like that last pass from the aussie no 1

if giteau and o'connor dont get injured they will be unstoppable in 2011

By Anonymous, at June 16, 2009 12:08 am
Aussierugbyfan, of course he is better than me. Don't be stupid.

Secondly - half the frigging world wants him leveled. The Irish want him leveled, the welsh want him leveled, the poms want him leveled, and apparently, the Italians too. I don't even need to say about the Saffers and Kiwis.

By T, at June 16, 2009 12:40 am
He was never levelled, that was lachie turner who got smashed in the face with Bergamasco's knee.

By Anonymous, at June 16, 2009 2:05 am
i think they're talking about the bergomasco 'sandbag' tackle on o'connor (1st half on the near sideline) as the levelling moment mate. hardly call it getting smashed, but bergomasco enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than o'connor. low quality game though, aussies bombed a few.

By Matt_Drinks_New, at June 16, 2009 3:37 am