The Wallabies “owe” it to departing coaches Joe Schmidt and Laurie Fisher to end a run of six straight losses by beating Italy in Perth on Saturday.
The Nations Championship clash at HBF Park is head coach Schmidt’s final game in charge of the team before he hands over the reins to Les Kiss, while assistant coach Fisher is also standing down.
“Joe’s been massive for us around detail, breakdown, making sure that we respect the ball, and he’s been awesome to work with, along with Laurie Fisher,” Wallabies centre Len Ikitau said.
“I’ve been with ‘Lord’ (Fisher) for a number of years now, and nothing’s changed with him.
He tells you straight up what you need to work on, and if you’re not doing good, then he’ll let you know, and he’ll tell you the truth, which is nice.
“It’s their last game this week, and I think for us as a group we owe to both of them to put in a good performance.”
Lock Jeremy Williams echoed Ikitau’s sentiments.
“Both coaches have been awesome,” Williams said.
“Joe was the coach who gave me my first crack in a Wallabies environment.
“He’s incredibly detailed. Both (Schmidt and Fisher) are around the fundamentals of the game, and they bring that edge to the team. They’re really honest with us.
“There’s always motivation when you’re representing your country … and there will be a little bit of extra motivation (on Saturday).
“We want to go out there and send them (Schmidt and Fisher) off on a high. We’ll be doing everything we can to do that.”
However, beating Italy is no longer a routine task for Australia.
The Italians have got the better of the Wallabies in the teams’ two most recent meetings.
“As players, we respect every team that we’re going to go up against, but we always have a mindset of going out there, wanting to win every game and putting our best foot forward,” Williams said.
Ikitau said Australia’s Nations Championships losses to France and Ireland in the past two weeks had been “pretty disappointing”.
The Wallabies led both games at half-time before losing 42-26 to the French in Brisbane and 33-31 to the Irish in Sydney.
“We’ve just touched on the first five minutes in that second half, making sure that we’re up for it, and we’re able to nail the detail in our role in those five minutes, and then just being real active and up on our toes,” Ikitau said.
“For us, there are no excuses. We’ve got a massive break after this game, so everyone’s just keen to go out there and put on a good performance that not only we’re proud of, but Australia and the fans.”
Italy will be without lock Niccolo Cannone, who was on Tuesday banned for four games after receiving a red card in his team’s 47-17 weekend loss in Wellington to New Zealand for head-butting All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard.
Cannone was found guilty of physical abuse by the Foul Play Review Committee.
Originally published as Wallabies driven to repay departing coaches by ending six-match losing run