Berrick Barnes is back in the Australia starting line-up © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

Matches: Italy 14 - 32 Australia

Tournaments/Tours: Australia tour

Teams: Australia | Italy

Matt Giteau and Benn Robinson have been axed from the Australia side to face Italy in Florence on Saturday.

The high-profile duo have been demoted to the bench in the wake of the Wallabies' 35-18 loss to England at Twickenham, with midweek skipper Berrick Barnes drafted in at No.12 after overseeing Tuesday's loss to Munster and promising Reds prop James Slipper taking over Robinson's loose-head berth against a heavyweight Italian scrum.

Brumbies lock Mark Chisholm drops out of the starting XV in favour of Reds youngster Rob Simmons, who is set to make his full debut.

Scrum-half Will Genia also misses out due to a rib injury, meaning that Luke Burgess partners Quade Cooper at halfback. Lachie Turner starts on the wing after James O'Connor returned to Australia to attend a funeral.

Italy boss Nick Mallett has handed a surprise debut to 20-year-old scrum-half Edoardo Gori for their clash with Australia in Florence on Saturday.

The Treviso No.9 is yet to make his debut in either the Magners League or Heineken Cup due to injury but has beaten the experienced Pablo Canavosio to a starting berth against the Wallabies. Aironi's Tito Tebaldi has been jettisoned to link up with Italy 'A'.

Gori starts in tandem with Brive fly-half Luciano Orquera following an injury to Australian-born playmaker Craig Gower while Alberto Sgarbi is called into the midfield.

Mallett has also shuffled his deck up front, with hooker Fabio Ongaro replacing Leonardo Ghiraldini, Andrea Lo Cicero in at loose-head for Salvatore Perugini and flanker Paul Derbyshire named in the back-row ahead of Roberto Barbieri.

Italy: L McLean (Benetton Treviso); T Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), A Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso), M Bergamasco (Racing Metro), L Orquera (Brive), E Gori (Benetton Treviso), A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), F Ongaro (Aironi), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), C del Fava (Aironi), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi), P Derbyshire (Benetton Treviso), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt)

Replacements: C Festuccia (Racing Metro),L Cittadini (Benetton Treviso), S Dellape (Racing Metro), R Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), P Canavosio (Aironi), R Bocchino (Aironi), A Masi (Racing Metro)

Australia: K Beale (Waratahs); L Turner (Waratahs), A Ashley-Cooper (Brumbies), B Barnes (Waratahs), D Mitchell (Waratahs); Q Cooper (Reds), L Burgess (Waratahs); J Slipper (Reds), S Moore (Brumbies), B Alexander (Brumbies), R Simmons (Reds), N Sharpe (Western Force), R Elsom (Brumbies, capt), D Pocock (Western Force), B McCalman (Western Force)

Replacements: T Polota-Nau (Waratahs), B Robinson (Waratahs), M Chisholm (Brumbies), M Hodgson (Western Force), W Genia (Reds), M Giteau (Brumbies), P McCabe (Brumbies)

Referee: Christophe Berdos (Fra)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (Fra), Tim Hayes (Wal)
TMO: Geoff Warren (Eng)