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Teenager James O'Connor scored three tries on his first start for Australia as the Wallabies trounced an abysmal Italy 31-8 in the first Test in Canberra.

The 18-year-old fullback is being groomed as the future of Australian rugby, and did little to harm his reputation with an all-round mature performance that saw him score almost half of his team's points.

"I'm pretty stoked with that," said O'Connor, who made his Test debut as a replacement on last year's end of season tour of Europe but was starting for the first time.

"I was just in the right place at the right time to get a few opportunist's tries.

"It was an awesome experience... I got dumped on my head with my first touch of the ball."

There were a few things that could do with improvement for Robbie Deans's side with a lax 15 minutes either side of half time, in particular, allowing Italy a chance to get right back into the match, albeit a chance they failed to take advantage of.

But overall Deans can be happy in the knowledge that his Australia's performance was far from a one-man show, with try-scorers Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock, and Lachie Turner also standing out in a dominant display by the hosts.

"It was a great workout for us, very physical which we always anticipated, but off a game where we got a lot of latitude (last week), that was a very good physical workout," Deans said.

"It was a contest where we found it difficult to get momentum, but we were still able to score five tries, so you can't fault that."

Australian skipper Mortlock also paid tribute to the tough-to-beat opposition. "(Italy) are very good in defence and likewise at the breakdown. They are very good at slowing your momentum down and we struggled with that in the first half.

"It's very difficult to get your rhythm against them. Second half we were a little more direct and made some in-roads."

For Italy boss Nick Mallet though it will be the manner of the defeat rather than the points deficit that will prove particularly troublesome as his side turned in a toothless performance that rarely saw them looking threatening even when they were within touching distance of the try-line.

The Wallabies wasted little time in getting off the mark on a perishingly cold night in Canberra when Turner exploited a gaping hole in the Italy defence, left when Luke McLean slipped, and burst free before offloading to O'Connor who had a free run over the line.

Australia suffered a scare shortly after when an accidental collision with Mauro Bergamasco's knee left Turner flat out on the floor. But the hardy NSW Waratah's man recovered and even played on until the interval when he was replaced due to nausea.

O'Connor added his second try on the 30 minute mark when captain Mortlock fed Giteau from the break-down. Giteau used his impressive strength to burst through a two-man tackle before selflessly offloading to his former Western Force colleague, who enjoyed a second free run over the line.

Giteau, who could have scored the second try as he slid over the line after passing to O'Connor, was rewarded for his team-play just minutes later when a grubber kick through, after neat one-two with Berrick Barnes, bounced kindly and the 26-year-old was able to collect and dive over the line.

Firmly in control after just half an hour, Australia took their eye off the ball slightly and, with a few errors to creeping into the Wallbies' game, Australia-born Italy full-back McLean got his side on the board with of a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The Wallabies also returned slowly after the interval with former Australian rugby league international Craig Gower, making his debut for Italy, pouncing on a sleeping Australia defence to feed New Zealand-born Kaine Robertson for the try.

But it was the solo highlight in an otherwise poor game from the Azzurri as Australia bounced back with their fourth try less than 10 minutes later, when Mortlock forced his way through a number of ineffective Italian tackles to force his way over the line.

The match never looked in doubt for the Wallabies but any hope Italy had of setting up a second-half comeback disappeared completely when O'Connor crossed over for his third.

It was Mortlock again who broke through the Italian defence, feeding Stephen Moore, who took the ball on and made 10 metres to the line before offloading to O'Connor for the 18-year-old to complete his hat-trick with ease.

Giteau added the conversion despite the Italians bizarrely attempting to charge the kick down and Australia rode out the final 20 minutes whilst making a whole host of substitutions.

Gower put his side out of their misery by booting the ball out of touch as soon as the final hooter sounded, and no doubt Italy will be looking to forget the match as they prepare for the second Test in Melbourne next week.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport