History of rugby union matches between Australia and Italy

Australia and Italy have played each other at rugby union a total of 15 matches, all won by Australia.^[1]

History

Australia first played Italy on their way home from European tours in the 1970s, though they were not given full international status. The first encounter was in 1973 when Australia ran up 59 points to 21, but the second was the closest ever, with Italy losing by a single point 16-17. Officially the first test between the two countries was in 1983, following an Italian tour of Australia in 1981 in which the visitors acquitted themselves well against secondary opposition. They toured again in 1986 and played their first test match away from home. Two years later the Italians were soundly beaten at the end of the 1988 Wallabies tour, but their next tour of Australia in 1994 saw a big improvement with all state matches won and an unlucky defeat in the Brisbane test match. Since then results have generally been convincing wins to Australia, but the last in 2012 was a close one with Italy unlucky to lose by 3 points.

World Cup History

In 2011 they met for the first time in a World Cup match at the group stage in Auckland with Australia starting their campaign towards the semifinals with a 32-6 win.

Summary

Note: Summary below reflects test results by both teams.

Overall

Details	Played	Won by  Australia	Won by  Italy	Drawn	Australia points	Italy points
In Italy	9	9	0	0	317	125
In Australia	6	6	0	0	216	86
Neutral venue	1	1	0	0	32	6
Overall	16	16	0	0	565	217

Records

Note: Date shown in brackets indicates when the record was or last set.

Record	Australia	Italy
Longest winning streak	16 (22 Oct 1983–Present)	NA
Largest points for
Home	69 (25 June 2005)	20 (9 November 2013)
Away	55 (3 December 1988)	21 (25 June 2005)
Largest winning margin
Home	48 (25 June 2005)	NA
Away	49 (3 December 1988)	NA

Results

No.	Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Competition
16	9 November 2013	Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin	20 – 50	Australia	2013 end of year test
15	24 November 2012	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence	19 – 22	Australia	2012 end of year test
14	11 September 2011	North Harbour Stadium, North Shore City, New Zealand	32 – 6	Australia	2011 Rugby World Cup
13	20 November 2010	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence	14 – 32	Australia
12	20 June 2009	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	34 – 12	Australia
11	13 June 2009	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	31 – 8	Australia
10	8 November 2008	Stadio Euganeo, Padova	20 – 30	Australia
9	11 November 2006	Stadio Flaminio, Rome	18 – 25	Australia
8	25 June 2005	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	69 – 21	Australia
7	23 November 2002	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genova	3 – 34	Australia
6	23 October 1996	Stadio Plebiscito, Padua	18 – 40	Australia
5	25 June 1994	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne	20 – 7	Australia
4	18 June 1994	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane	23 – 20	Australia
3	3 December 1988	Stadio Flaminio, Rome	6 – 55	Australia
2	1 June 1986	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane	39 – 18	Australia
1	22 October 1983	Stadio Comunale Mario Battaglini, Rovigo	7 – 29	Australia

XV Results

Below is a list of matches that Italy has awarded matches test match status by virtue of awarding caps, but Australia did not award caps.

Date	Venue	Score	Winner	Comments
4 November 1976	Arena Civica, Milan	15 – 16	Australia	Not considered full internationals by Australia
21 November 1973	Stadio Tommaso Fattori, L'Aquila	21 – 59	Australia

References

External links