Australia downs Italy for two-test sweep

Substitute winger Adam Ashley-Cooper scored a try in each half as Australia beat Italy 34-12 on Saturday to complete a two-test sweep.

Australian-born fullback Luke McLean gave Italy an early lead by kicking his first of two first-half penalties in the third minute.

But the Wallabies struck back eight minutes later when inside centre Quade Cooper sent a looping cut-out pass to winger Lachie Turner, who broke two tackles before popping the ball up for hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau to cross near the far corner.

Australia extended the lead in the 24th minute when Cooper snatched possession 10 meters out and sent a long pass to fullback James O'Connor, who passed inside for Ryan Cross to charge over for a try.

Ashley-Cooper, who came on twice after Peter Hynes sustained a gash to his ear, scored his eighth try for Australia a minute before the break when he picked up a long Berrick Barnes pass, offloaded to Lachie Turner, then collected the ball again to dive over near the corner and give the Wallabies a 20-6 halftime lead.

Turner claimed a try of his own in the 70th minute when he gathered an offload from Cooper and made an unhindered run of 30 metres to score under the posts.

Ashley-Cooper, named man of the match, sealed the win with his second try of the match in the 77th minute when he collected a Josh Valentine pass and broke the Italian defensive line.

Italy's loss was its 10th in a row, including all five Six Nations matches.

"It was a good effort by a group who don't have a lot of background together," said Australia coach Robbie Deans, who pointed out that while captain George Smith has earned 97 test caps, the rest of the team shared 101 among them.

"Once again the Italians were successful in stymieing our game for the greater part, but there were occasions where the boys worked hard and we scored five tries, so that's not an easy thing to achieve against a side with the physical presence of these blokes," Deans said.

Italy, which takes on the All Blacks at Christchurch next week, showed more poise than in its 31-8 loss last weekend in Canberra, with center Gonzalo Garcia making several probing runs, and flyhalf Craig Gower, a former Australian rugby league international, provided several scoring opportunities.

Italy's best chance of a try came in the 66th minute when Gower produced a perfectly weighted grubber kick that looked certain to find an Italian player before hitting the post.

McLean scored all Italy's points, kicking four penalties.

"I think the performance today was a big step up from what we did (in Canberra) even though the score didn't reflect that," Italy coach Nick Mallett said. "I was very proud of the performances in the last two weeks ... to lose by 20 points in both games against the Wallabies is a great result."

Italy lost to 69-21 to Australia the last time they played in Melbourne.

"Playing away from home I would have signed up any day on conceding just 30 points in either test match," Mallett added.

O'Connor, the 18-year-old who scored three tries in his run-on debut last week, made an inauspicious start to the match when he fumbled an easy catch in the opening minute to concede a scrum. But he later kicked a penalty and two conversions from four attempts before handing the kicking duties to Barnes.

Scores:

Australia 34 (Adam Ashley-Cooper 2, Ryan Cross, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Lachlan Turner tries; James O'Connor 2 conversions, penalty, Berrick Barnes conversion), Italy 12 (Luke McLean 4 penalties). HT: 20-6.

AP