Robbie Deans bemoaned Italy's cunning play at the scrum as the Wallabies struggled to a 32-14 victory in Rome.
Wallabies coach says opposition got away with plenty in Rome
Robbie Deans bemoaned Italy's cunning play at the scrum as the Wallabies struggled to a 32-14 victory in Rome.
The hosts did their best to stifle the attacking skills of the Australian backs, once again exposing the pack as the weak part of the tourists' game.
However, Deans felt the Italians were pushing the rules to the limit despite the best efforts of referee Christophe Berdos.
"I feel the tight-head (Martin Castrogiovanni) gets away with far too much for rolling in and Christophe Berdos was going round the other side and getting it wrong," he said.
"He's an experienced tight-head so he plays the game, he knows where the ref is and chooses his moments cleverly and they profited from that.
"But (Australia loose-head) James Slipper did very well, the boys worked their way through those challenges.
"When we were packing against them the ball would just sit there right in the middle which shows the confidence they had in their scrum, but if they stepped back it came right over to our side.
"That one (the last try) was in the danger zone but you have to give them credit for having that confidence in their scrum."
Defence
Italy's South African coach Nick Mallett was delighted with his team's defensive performance and defended the lack of success they had up front.
"I don't think the attack wasn't good, we had a chance when Luke McLean passed to Tommaso Benvenuti and he dropped it but if McLean feints, Kurtley Beale had gone over when he got the ball and it would have been a try under the posts," said Mallett.
"We did well on the turnover even if we didn't go forward. Obviously we don't have players of the same level as Quade Cooper but we have good players and we shouldn't say they can't attack. We'll keep working and it will come in the future.
"The spirit of a team is not how they attack but how they defend and we had 22 players who gave their all.
"I'm disappointed about the last try because 25-14 was a fair score for this game and the last try was a real kick in the teeth given the great work we did in this game."
