Australia clash with Italy in the Nations Championship in Perth on Saturday and both these sides are chasing a first win of the tournament.
Australia vs France, Saturday 11th July, Perth, KO 12:10 (South African time)
Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU), Morné Ferreira (SARU)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Weather Forecast - Perth
Australia:
The Wallabies have lost both their matches so far and they have picked up 3 log points. They come into Round 3 with only Fiji (who have playing their fixtures away from home) below them in the standings and they are 7 points off the pace being set by the Springboks and New Zealand.
Australia took on France in Round 2 in Brisbane and it all went horribly wrong in the second half as they crashed to a 42-26 defeat. The Wallabies led 21-12 at half time but their only subsequent score was a late try which came after France had stormed back to put the game to bed. Paenga-Amosa, and McReight twice were the Australian try scorers in the first period and Jeremy Williams late effort secured a 4 try bonus point.
Australia were marginal underdogs for their opening match against Ireland in Sydney and the market proved accurate as Ireland edged a thriller 33-31. The teams shared 10 tries and Ireland’s last score came at the death and won the game after the Wallabies had been 12 points in front at one stage. Pietsch, Campbell, Canham, Lonergan and McDermott were the Wallaby try scorers and Gordon landed with 3 conversions and they earned themselves 2 log points.
In the Nations Championship outright betting markets Australia can be backed at 150/1 to win the title with Hollywoodbets
Nations Championship Results and Fixtures: R1 Ireland (h) lost 33-31, R2 France (h) lost 242-26, R3 Italy (h), R4 England (a), R5 Scotland (a), R6 Wales (a)
Italy:
Italy have yet to earn a log point and they are bottom of the Northern Hemisphere log, 5 points adrift of Wales and England.
Italy put up a spirited first half effort against the All Blacks in Wellington in Round 2 but they finished well beaten at 47-17. They scored the first try of the game and held the lead for the best part of 30 minutes but although they only trailed 14-10 at half time a red card for Niccolò Cannone on 51 minutes led to them being swamped for most of the remainder of the game. Menoncello and Garbisi were the Italian try scorers.
Italy began their Nations Championship with a clash with Japan in Tokyo and they went down 27-10. Juan Ignacio Brex scored a fifth minute try for Italy but Japan quickly got on top and led 17-10 at half time and Italy failed to add to their tally in the second half.
In the Nations Championship outright betting markets you can write your own ticket about Italy.
Nations Championship Results and Fixtures: R1 Japan (a) lost 27-10, R2 New Zealand (a) lost 47-17, R3 Australia (a), R4 South Africa (h), R5 Argentina (h), R6 Fiji (h)
Recent Head to Head
Nov 2025 – International – Turin – Italy 26–19 Australia
Nov 2022 – International – Florence – Italy 28–27 Australia
Nov 2018 – International – Padua – Italy 7–26 Australia
Jun 2017 – International – Brisbane – Australia 40–27 Italy
Team News
Australia: tbc
Italy: tbc
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
Australia -16.5 points at 9/10
Italy +16.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
To follow
Bets: to follow
More Rugby Bets
This week we have previews and Brent Graham’s bets for New Zealand vs Ireland, Australia vs Italy, South Africa vs Wales and Argentina vs England. More Nations Series and World U20 Championship bets from Brent and other members of our community will be posted weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
