PERTH, Australia (AP) — Joe Schmidt’s tenure as Australia’s head coach ended with a victory on Saturday, with the Wallabies beating Italy 57-10 in the Nations Championship to end a six-test losing streak.The Australians scored six tries to one in the first half, with lock Josh Canham crossing for two, and led 38-5 to set up the win in Perth.Canham scored again — his third try — when he picked up at the base of a ruck meters from Italy’s tryline and burrowed over in the 52nd minute to give the home team a 45-10 lead.The Wallabies had big leads in their last two tests but surrendered them in a 42-26 loss to Six Nations champion France in Brisbane and a 33-31 loss to Ireland in Sydney in the opening round of the Nations Championship. The Australians were determined to end Schmidt’s stint on a positive note. They started well, and this time held the momentum in Perth.“When you’ve done that a few times, you’ve got to learn from those experiences, and I felt we did tonight,” Schmidt said. “We got far enough in front that it wasn’t really going to matter if we weren’t as good in the second half, but, there was some good stuff in there.”
Canham crossed in the fourth minute and fullback Tom Wright and hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa also scored in the opening 12 minutes. Canham, prop Angus Bell and center Len Ikitau all scored in the 15 minutes before the break.
