Italy 14 - 32 Australia: Boot of Barnes is key as Australia are made to toil

Berrick Barnes put on an exhibition of kicking as Australia battled to a hard-fought win over Italy in Florence on Saturday.

Barnes kicked a perfect eight out of eight - six penalties and conversions from tries by Drew Mitchell and Rocky Elsom - but it was far from comfortable for the Wallabies.

The Azzurri pulled to within four points at half-time and a try from Robert Barbieri exposed the visitors' scrum problems once again, but in the end they were strong enough.

Ten points ahead after 13 minutes, Australia seemed well in control, but Luciano Orquera scored a long-range penalty which just crept over and needed video replays to confirm its validity and Bergamasco added another three-pointer to make it 13-9 at half-time.

However, Italy's hopes all but vanished within 10 minutes of the restart, though, as Barnes split the posts with three more penalties to ease any Australian nerves and Elsom's late try put a comfortable sheen on the score.

Italy: McLean, Benvenuti, Canale, Sgarbi (Masi 61), Bergamasco, Orquera (Bocchino 68), Gori (Canavosio 61), Parisse (capt), Zanni (Barbieri 55) Derbyshire, Geldenhuys, Del Fava (Dellape 68), Castrogiovanni (Cittadini 55), Ongaro (Festuccia 49), Lo Cicero.

Australia: Beale, Turner, Ashley-Cooper (McCabe 79), Barnes, Mitchell, Cooper, Burgess, McCalman, Pocock (Chisholm), Elsom (capt), Sharpe (Hodgson 68), Simmons, Alexander, Moore (Polota-Nau 68), Slipper (Robinson 68, Slipper 74). Unused replacements: Genia, Giteau.