The Junior Wallabies’ 69-12 loss to the New Zealand under-20s on the Sunshine Coast in July - a week after they lost to Argentina - is more troubling than the Wallabies’ loss to Italy.

The reaction to the Italy loss has been angry and context-free: with words such as “shambles” and “debacle” thrown around far too easily.

That’s arguably more disrespectful to Italy than the 12 changes the Wallabies made as they limp through a five-Test tour that should never have been signed off on.

While the Junior Wallabies - featuring four players who had already played Super Rugby - struggled in the Oceania tournament, Italy beat England, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations under-20s tournament this year.
Key senior squad players Ange Capuozzo, Paolo Gabisi and Stephen Varney - all aged 23 or under - play for Toulouse, Montpellier and Gloucester, respectively.

In other words, good things are happening in Italian rugby as world rugby continues to flatten out. The so-called elite nations will have to get used to losing to teams hitherto considered beneath them.

From a helicopter view, the Wallabies’ current status - bumping around between No.6 and No.9 in the world rankings - is precisely where you’d expect them to be given the performances of the teams that feed into the Test side.

Take the Wallabies’ penalty count - which has been killing them all year - as another example. If you look at the Top 10 penalised players in Super Rugby this year (13 actually, with a number of players in ‘tied’ positions), nine of them are Australians, six of them are Wallabies and four of those Wallabies played against Italy last weekend.

In fact, of the Top 10 penalised quartet who played against Italy, a trio of them (Fraser McReight, Darcy Swain and Tom Robertson) conceded six penalties, 37.5 per cent of the Wallabies’ team total.