Italy won't be a walk-over: Al Baxter
By Jon Geddes
June 09, 2009 The Wallabies' most-capped prop, Al Baxter, is convinced that Saturday night's opening Test against Italy in Canberra will be no spaghetti western.
The experienced front-rower says that the Italians won't be soft targets for their sharpshooting opponents.
Italy finished last in this year's Six Nations after losing all of their five games, but Baxter says that will only make them more determined this week.
"In their own words, they had a disappointing Six Nations campaign," Baxter said.
"I know they are looking to improve on their performances and turn around what they did there. I think that they will come down here looking for a bit of redemption from their Six Nations and certainly look to build going into the World Cup."
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is also wary of Italy, who are in the same pool as Australia for the 2011 World Cup in South Africa.
"You've only got to look as recently as our last performance against them, albeit at a tabletop at Padua," Deans said. "It was a good performance and they pushed us to the 70th minute."
He was referring to the Wallabies' nailbiting 30-20 win over the Italians on their spring tour last November.
"They probably won't be coming back to the southern hemisphere prior to the World Cup," Deans said.
"They will be over here to benchmark themselves and have a crack and take that last step which they failed to do last year.
"They are going to be more than competitive."
Baxter said Italy's scrum was their great strength.
He believes the game will provide a good test for the Australia pack after what he said was an encouraging start against the Barbarians at the SFS last Saturday.
"We hadn't had much time together so it was a good first hitout," Baxter said.
"But there are certainly some areas that we have to work on."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...016959,00.html
Wallabies expect brutal Test with Italy
June 10, 2009 - 2:13PM
The Wallabies are bracing themselves for a torrid forward battle with the vaunted Italian pack in Saturday night's season-opening rugby Test in Canberra.
Despite losing all five Six Nations matches this year and having never beaten Australia in 10 previous Tests, the Italians - ranked 12th in the world - still boast one of the most feared packs in Europe.
Former NRL star Craig Gower, who is tipped to be named as Italy's five-eighth on Thursday for his international rugby debut, has captured most of the attention in the lead-up to the match.
But assistant coach Jim Williams and powerhouse hooker Stephen Moore have no doubts where Italy's greatest threats lay, having not forgotten how much grief the Azzurri forwards caused the Wallabies in the 30-20 escape in Padova last November.
"They gave us a fairly hard time last time through their set piece and really all over the park they showed how aggressive they were and how much they wanted to go into contact around the breakdown," Williams said on Wednesday.
"They really caught us there a little bit last time.
"In that respect, Gower will certainly be an important cog in their team with running the plays (off the back of the forward platform) and organising things and, as we know, he's got a kicking game.
"But the forwards are going to be the big concern for us."
Moore, Australia's undoubted forward leader after establishing himself last year as one of the premier hookers in world rugby, is relishing the chance for the Wallabies to gauge their forward progress against the rugged Italians.
"They take a lot of pride from their set piece," he said.
"They've got a passion for scrummaging and now that the new laws allowing mauling to come back in, I think you'll see them doing a lot of that as well.
"So it's going to be a big battle for us up front and we wouldn't want any less. We're really excited about that.
"We've got two Tests now against Italy - and then France as well will play a similar game - and there's no secrets as to what they'll bring there and we've prepared accordingly."
© 2009 AAP
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