Frustrated Australia coach Dave Rennie admitted his side were simply not good enough in their first ever loss to Italy and refused to lay the blame for the 28-27 defeat on debutant replacement flyhalf Ben Donaldson.
Donaldson missed a conversion after the hooter that he would expect to kick, and which would have given the Wallabies an ill-deserved victory in Florence.
Instead, they slumped to an eighth loss in 2022 with number-one ranked Ireland to come next Saturday.
SCENES!!! ITALY HAVE BEATEN THE WALLABIES 28-27 ?? pic.twitter.com/mEZ3idnXjf
— SuperSport ?? (@SuperSportTV) November 12, 2022
"We didn’t play well enough and turned over the pill (ball) too much," Rennie told reporters. "We gave them a head start at 17-3, gave them hope and enthusiasm and brought the crowd into the game.
"It is hugely disappointing and not good enough. All I can say is the boys are hurt, they know we are better than that.
"It's tough, he's (Donaldson) hurting but we have an arm around him. You can always look at the last few seconds of the game, but there was lots we did wrong earlier to put Ben in that position.
"We feel for him but it is not the reason we lost today."
Always two sides to a historic win.
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) November 12, 2022
Gutted debut boy Ben Donaldson.
Forza Italy! #ITAvAUS #AutumnNationsSeries pic.twitter.com/qA9gj3gFsp
Rennie does not believe the fact he made 11 changes to the side that had taken France close last week in Paris had anything to do with the loss.
"There were a couple of extra bodies that would have played today had they not been injured. But we had a good enough side out on the paddock to win. We just gave up too many soft points, and possession and territory to them," he said.
"We didn't dominate up front as we would have hoped. We gave them field position through penalties and turnovers."
Australia turned down a number of penalties in kickable positions in favour of attacking line-outs, but twice lost their own set-pieces five metres from the Italian line.
"Our lineout is generally excellent, but we got a few things wrong. We will assess the whole game as to where we need to be better. Ultimately, (losing) the collision area, the turnovers and discipline is what hurt us.
"You get put under pressure when you lose collisions and end up on the wrong side. I think there were six breakdown penalties against us and another three at the set-piece."