Italy defeat proves Australia are far too over reliant on a handful of stars

Dave Rennie made 12 changes from the narrow loss in France but the head coach would have expected more from his side

Dave Rennie embarked on this five-Test European tour with some key questions that needed answering. One, perhaps the most important one, concerned the depth of his squad. Winning would always be a key performance indicator, but bolstering a team capable of mixing it with the best at next year’s World Cup would always loom largest in the Wallabies coach’s in-tray.

They were second best for much of their match against Italy in Florence and rightly ended on the losing side. Debutant Ben Donaldson, who had been on the pitch for only five minutes, had the chance to change the result with the final kick of the game, but his conversion attempt following Cadeyrn Neville’s burrowing try after the hooter was pushed past the posts.