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Turin - Wing Nick Cummins scored two of seven Australian tries as the Wallabies made up for defeat to England with a commanding 50-20 victory over hapless Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.
Italy had been looking to capitalise on Australia's morale-sapping 20-13 reverse at Twickenham last week to score a first, historic win over Australia in 16 attempts.
But despite going 10-up before the quarter-hour thanks notably to a try from Australian-born full-back Luke McLean, the tourists came steadily into their game and punished Italian errors with ruthless efficiency.
Captain Ben Mowen touched down for Australia on 15 minutes, with Quade Cooper making up for an earlier penalty miss with the conversion before adding another two points minutes later after Tevita Kuridrani went over on 21 minutes.
Cummins scored the first of his brace just after the half-hour to put Australia 19-10 up at the break to give Jacques Brunel's men an uphill task in the second half, and with the crowd already lulled into silence.
If Italy had thoughts of producing a stirring fightback, they were soon kicked into touch as the visitors resumed where they had left off.
An Italian infringement at the scrum gave Australia a line-out on Italy's 22-metre line and led to the Wallabies' fourth try on 50 minutes.
Adam Ashley-Cooper played a pivotal role, holding off several players and causing confusion metres from the tryline before offloading to Cummins who had time to run in behind the posts for his second.
Cooper added two points with the boot to give Australia a commanding 16-point lead.
Australia were well into their stride and following a line-out deep in Italian territory just before the hour mark took their lead to 33-10.
Italy's defence initially held firm under wave after wave of Wallaby attack but it eventually caved in and when Will Genia dug the ball out for Cooper and his pass to Ashley-Cooper saw him drive over at the side of the posts, with Cooper kicking the conversion.
Italy were given brief hope of a fightback when replacement Lorenzo Cittadini bundled the ball over shortly after to add five points, but Di Bernardo's disappointing afternoon with the boot continued when he missed the conversion.
There was no stopping Australia, and the joy on Joe Tomane's face when he scored the Australians sixth try minutes later said it all.
Israel Folau added a seventh for the visitors with 10 minutes remaining, and, staring at one of their heaviest defeats to Australia in recent years, Italy had no choice but to try to save face.
The hosts pushed deep into Australian territory in the final minutes and were rewarded when second-half replacement Tommaso Allan, formerly a Scotland player at junior level, went over for his maiden Italy try in the 79th minute.
Scorers:
Italy:
Tries: Luke McClean, Lorenzo Cittadini, Tomasso Allan
Conversions: Alberto Di Bernado
Penalties: Di Bernado
Australia:
Tries: Ben Mowen, Tevita Kuridrani, Nick Cummins (2), Adam Ashley-Cooper, Joe Tomane, Israel Folau
Conversions: Quade Cooper (4), Christian Leali'lifano (2)
Penalties: Leali'lifano
Teams:
Italy:
15 Luke McLean, 14 Tommaso Benevenuti, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Michele Rizzo
Substitutes: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Joshua Furno, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Tommaso Iannone
Australia:
15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben Mowen (captain), 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Rob Simmons, 5 James Horwill, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Substitutes: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Nic White, 22 Christian Leali'lifano, 23 Joe Tomane.
