Australia have finished their group stage campaign in style, beating Italy 66-6 with a comprehensive performance.
Mal Meninga’s side have finished as the outright leaders of Group B with a points differential of 178 and will likely face Lebanon in the quarterfinals.
The Azzurri were able to keep the Kangaroos out for seven minutes at Totally Wicked Stadium, but Daly Cherry-Evans found Valentine Holmes with a pinpoint kick to open the scoring.
Winger Murray Taulagi put the finishing touches on a simple move five minutes later before James Tedesco threw a big dummy to score a four-pointer of his own.
“James Tedesco, he has scored against Italy, James Tedesco, he has scored in the blue of Italy, now he scores here for the Kangaroos against Italy,” Fox League’s Andrew Voss said.
Campbell Graham scored Australia’s fourth off a goal line dropout, spinning past a defender on the very first tackle of the set.
Latrell Mitchell charged over for Australia’s fifth try of the night, capitalising off a Nathan Cleary inside ball.
“The beast, the beast has scored,” Fox League’s Andrew Voss said.
The Rabbitohs gun then delivered a ridiculous flick pass to find Murray Taulagi for his second try, heading into halftime with a 30-0 lead.
Tedesco once again broke the line after halftime with a big dummy, finding Cherry-Evans on the inside who offloaded the ball to Isaah Yeo to score.
Liam Martin and Cameron Murray also crossed from simple short balls, but one moment from Italy stole the show in the second period.
Halfback Radean Robinson put in a perfectly placed grubber, allowing Ronny Palumbo to charge onto and scored Italy’s first of the night.
“It is on for Italy, they have done it, Palumbo scores for Italy, you beauty,” Voss said.
Graham once again broke through Italy’s defence to score his second of the contest.
“He has no right to score that, it is an outrageous try,” the commentator said.
Young gun backrower Jeremiah Nanai and prop Lindsy Collins put the finishing touches on Australia’s dominant display with a pair of tries.
