Schmidt signs off in style as the Wallabies beat Italy 57-10 to end a 6-test skid

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Joe Schmidt’s tenure as Australia’s head coach ended with a victory on Saturday, with the Wallabies beating Italy 57-10 in the Nations Championship to end a six-test losing streak.

The Australians scored six tries to one in the first half, with lock Josh Canham crossing for two, and led 38-5 to set up the win in Perth.

Canham scored again — his third try — when he picked up at the base of a ruck meters from Italy’s tryline and burrowed over in the 52nd minute to give the home team a 45-10 lead.

The Wallabies had big leads in their last two tests but surrendered them in a 42-26 loss to Six Nations champion France in Brisbane and a 33-31 loss to Ireland in Sydney in the opening round of the Nations Championship. The Australians were determined to end Schmidt’s stint on a positive note. They started well, and this time held the momentum in Perth.

“When you’ve done that a few times, you’ve got to learn from those experiences, and I felt we did tonight,” Schmidt said. “We got far enough in front that it wasn’t really going to matter if we weren’t as good in the second half, but, there was some good stuff in there.”

Canham crossed in the fourth minute and fullback Tom Wright and hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa also scored in the opening 12 minutes. Canham, prop Angus Bell and center Len Ikitau all scored in the 15 minutes before the break.

Canham and Billy Pollard scored in the second half before replacement back Ben Donaldson dived over in the 80th minute to cap the victory after a rampaging run from backrower Rob Valetini.

Captain Michele Lamaro scored Italy’s only points of the first half with a try in the 20th minute, and Montanna Ioane crossed just after halftime in some rare highlights for the visitors. The Italians had a try disallowed for a knock-on in-goal in the 75th on video review.

The first phase of the new Nations Championship tournament ended without a win for the Italians, and with coach Gonzalo Quesada suspended and not allowed on the sidelines. It got worse when a wrestle between players in the 66th minute spilled from the touchline into the technical area and knocked some Italy support staff off their chairs. It resulted in a red card for Marco Riccioni, the Italian prop who had already been replaced.

“Gutted. Obviously very disappointed with the result and the performance we put in,” Lamaro said of Saturday’s result, and the tour generally. “We played a very good first half against the All Blacks last week, but apart from that we’ve been pretty poor.”

Quesada was initially issued a two-game suspension for referee criticism following Italy’s 47-17 loss to New Zealand last week, but had the ban reduced to one game on appeal.

He had criticized the match officials for a yellow card issued to lock Niccolò Cannone for a head-butt. The card was upgraded to red and Cannone was later handed a four-match suspension. Italy also lost its tournament-opening test to Japan.

Schmidt announced last year that he was standing down as Wallabies’ head coach but remained in the role to give his replacement, Les Kiss, time to complete his obligations with the Queensland Reds.

Schmidt said he was handing over a squad that had made progress over the last 2 1/2 years, despite its relatively low winning percentage, and was working positively toward next year’s Rugby World Cup on home soil.

“I think the players are more connected. I think the leaders are more vocal,” Schmidt said. “Our fundamentals, our set piece is getting better.

“To the rugby public, thank you for sticking with us. We’ve just had massive support, and it makes a difference to the players.”

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby