Australia thrash Italy for first Nations Championship win

July 18 : Australia lock Josh Canham scored a hat-trick of tries in a rampant 57-10 victory over Italy on Saturday for their first Nations Championship success and a fitting farewell to coach Joe Schmidt.Australia ended a run of six successive defeats, including their first two matches in the new competition at home to Ireland and France over the last fortnight, with Tom Wright, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Angus Bell, Len Ikitau, Billy Pollard and Ben Donaldson also scoring in a feast of nine tries.Ryan Lonergan added five conversions and Donaldson one more while captain Michele Lamaro and Australia-born Monty Ioane scored tries for the Italians.Australia raced to a convincing 38-5 halftime lead as they laid the platform for their first test win since beating Japan in Tokyo last October. SCHMIDT