AUSTRALIA v ITALY: Australia 31 Italy 8TEENAGE FULLBACK James O'Connor (18) celebrated his first full Test appearance with a hat-trick in Canberra on Saturday.
O’Connor, in his first run-on match for the Wallabies, scored his opening try in the fourth minute then crossed twice more.
Outhalf Matt Giteau scored a fortuitous try after the ball ricocheted off his knee, and converted three of the five Australian tries.
Wallaby skipper Stirling Mortlock barged his way over in the second half to snuff out any chances of an Italian fightback after the tourists had scored eight unanswered points either side of the break through their Antipodean recruits.
Australian-born fullback Luke McLean opened their account with a penalty on the stroke of halftime, then New Zealand-born wing Kaine Robertson charged over two minutes after the restart when he combined with Craig Gower, a former Australian rugby league international also on debut.
AUSTRALIA: O'Connor; Turner, Mortlock, Barnes, Mitchell; Giteau, Burgess; Robinson, Moore, Baxter, Horwill, Sharpe, Mumm, Smith, Brown. Replacements: Ashley-Cooper for Turner (40), Cooper for Mortlock (65), Polota-Nau for Moore (61), Alexander for Baxter (61), Kimlin for Mumm (61), Pocock for Brown (63).
ITALY: McLean; Robertson, M Bergamasco, Pratichetti, Sgarbi; Gower, Canavosio; Perugini, Ghiraldini, Staibano, Geldenhuys, Del Fava, Zanni, M Bergamasco, Parisse. Replacements: Tebaldi for Canavosio (40), Rouyet for Staibano (62), Bortolami for Del Fava (71).
