Underperforming Wallabies suffer rankings blow after defeat to Italy

Joe Schmidt’s coaching job will likely come under scrutiny after the Wallabies suffered a humiliating 26-19 loss to Italy in Udine.

Displaying all-too-familiar ill-discipline, the Wallabies surrendered a second-half lead to slump to a sixth defeat in their past eight Tests under Schmidt in another hammer blow ahead of next month’s 2027 Rugby World Cup draw.

Currently ranked seventh in the world, the Wallabies will likely need to beat powerhouses Ireland and France in their remaining two spring tour fixtures to snatch an all-important top-six seeding for the global showpiece in Australia in two years’ time.

Such a scenario looks highly unlikely after the Wallabies produced another insipid performance, a week after falling 25-7 to England at Twickenham.

The last time Australia lost to Italy, for a first time ever three years ago in Florence, fellow New Zealand coach Dave Rennie was sacked barely a month later.

Rugby Australia have already locked Les Kiss in to take over from Schmidt in mid-2026 but calls to fast-track the transition will likely grow as the Wallabies continue to stumble.

Narrow wins over Argentina and Japan have been Australia’s only two victories in eight Tests since the Wallabies’ mighty triumph over the world champion Springboks at Ellis Park in August.

Schmidt’s winning strike rate has now slumped to 42 per cent, one of the worst Wallabies coaching returns in history.

“I’m pretty gutted, to be honest,” Schmidt told Stan Sport.

“We just look a bit flat. I said progress isn’t linear, but that was a flat performance. That’s a dip we can’t afford to have.

“And we’ve got two massive games coming up now, so we’re going to have to just recuperate as best we can and throw everything into the Irish game now.”

Skipper Harry Wilson was also unable to hide his anguish after the latest setback.

“We’re hurting,” he said.

“We wanted to fix up from last week. We said ‘we’re going to fix it up’ and we didn’t.

“We want to be a team which does what we said we’re going to do and we didn’t do that tonight.”

The Wallabies were under the pump early on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT), falling behind 6-0 off the back of more ill-discipline and a scrum penalty defending their line.

The visitors conceded four penalties in the opening 10 minutes, allowing flyhalf Paolo Garbisi to give Italy the advantage.

Carter Gordon endured an indifferent start back in the Australian No.10 jumper, kicking out on the full, losing a couple of high balls and having a pass knocked down.

But his midfield burst and lovely left-to-right long ball to Corey Toole finally put the Wallabies on the front foot before hooker Matt Faessler touched down from a driving maul after 20 minutes.

Andrew Kellaway sent his first conversion attempt in Wallaby gold well wide before slotting home after prop Angus Bell reached out on the half-hour mark to post Australia’s second try.

Another Garbisi goal kept Italy within three points at the break before the Azzurri levelled up the match at 12-12 with a fourth penalty just after halftime.

An opportunistic try to Gordon, after skipper Harry Wilson was deemed to have had the ball stripped in the tackle, put the Wallabies back in front.

But the lead didn’t last long as winger Louis Lynagh – son of Wallabies legend Michael Lynagh – crossed for Italy’s first try and Garbisi converted to make it 19-19.

Even worse, the Wallabies lost Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to the sin bin after the code-hopping centre caught Garbisi high in the lead-up.

The home team cashed in on their one-man advantage with fellow winger Monty Ioane crossing to give Italy their 26-19 lead.

And there was no way back for the Wallabies.