Joe Schmidt's time in charge of the Wallabies ended the way Australian rugby had been craving all winter: with a nine-try demolition. Australia hammered Italy 57-10 in Perth to sign off the Nations Championship pool stage, snapping a six-Test losing run and handing their departing coach the biggest Wallabies win in 12 years in his final match at the helm.
The night belonged to Josh Canham. The lock crossed in the 11th minute, again before the break and once more early in the second half to become the first second-rower to score a hat-trick in a Wallabies jersey. Tom Wright, Angus Bell and Len Ikitau were among the other try scorers, with Paenga-Amosa, Pollard and Donaldson also touching down as Australia ran riot after weeks of near misses against Ireland and France.
Schmidt, who hands over to Les Kiss, was in no mood to rush his exit. "I'm going to try and celebrate until midnight and then I might celebrate as a retired gentleman for a couple more hours," he said.
The New Zealander framed the result as the release of a fortnight's frustration. "I just feel like it's a culmination of a bit of frustration that we didn't finish the last two weeks off. There was a real conviction from the players," he said. "I'm just delighted with the effort from the players, some of the accuracy, I thought we had a real steel about us today and I'm just relieved and retired really."
Even in victory, Schmidt used his final address to point at the structural problem he believes is holding the Wallabies back — the strength of Australia's Super Rugby teams. "I do think we need to keep growing the strength and depth," he said. "I think one of the reasons we lacked a bit of belief in the second halves in those two games is that there hadn't been as much success in Super Rugby. I think we've got to prove and be really competitive there, and not have four Kiwi teams playing off in semi-finals."
Captain Harry Wilson said the squad would carry Schmidt's methods into the Kiss era. "The fundamentals he's taught us has really just made rugby a lot simpler for us," Wilson said. "Obviously Les will have his new ideas and stuff, but no doubt it will be very similar to Joe's, and hopefully there's some success in the future, and I'm sure it will be from Joe's imprint."
The one blemish came in the 65th minute, when Italy prop Marco Riccioni was shown a red card for a scuffle with Miles Amatosero from the sideline, ten minutes after being replaced.
Not everyone is convinced one big result papers over the cracks. Writing in CODE Sports, Jamie Pandaram cautioned that Schmidt's farewell party could yet leave Kiss with an "ugly hangover," given the Wallabies' broader struggles this season. But for one night in Perth, a coach who leaves with a losing overall record got the send-off his players clearly wanted to give him.
