Italy v Australia: Teams

Italy full-back Luke McLean believes there hasn't been a better time for adoptive homeland to beat his native Australia.

McLean was born in Townsville but he qualified for the Azzurri through his Italian grandmother.

And having seen the Wallabies lose to England and then Munster, McLean believes Italy can make it a hat-trick of losses on Saturday.

"I couldn't think of anything better, obviously they've come off (a loss to England) and the midweek team lost to Munster as well, that's not good for them," he said.

"If we can make it three losses in a row that would be the best thing for us so we'll be trying to do that."

Italy have lost all 14 of their previous meeting with the Wallabies, although they only went down 30-20 at home two years ago.

Italy coach Nick Mallett has caused a stir by handed a debut to the unheralded scrum-half Edoardo Gori, despite the 20-year-old having yet to play for Treviso.

But McLean has been impressed with what he has seen so far of Gori.

Confidence

"Obviously I've got a lot of confidence in the kid seeing him at the club and he does put in a lot of hard yards," he said.

"Every day we've got a day off he's there doing skill work, working on his pass and working on his footwork, so I think he'll go well, it will be a good experience for him."

Mallett has also included Luciano Orquera, Alberto Sgarbi co, Fabio Ongaro, Andrea Lo Cicero and Paul Derbyshire in his line-up.

Australia coach Robbie Deans has insisted his side will bounce back from their defeat to England at Twickenham.

"I'm looking for a better performance in terms of we were caught short by the English around the contact area in terms of intensity," he said.

"We gave them access to the gain line too easily. Italy will have taken a lot out of that and will look to do likewise.

"We've got to stiffen that up both ways, defensively and technically, and strength around the contact area."

Deans has made five changes to his line-up, with Berrick Barnes, Luke Burgess, Lachie Turner, James Slipper and Rob Simmons all included.

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Santiago Dellape, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.

Australia: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Will Genia, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Pat McCabe.