Italy completed the first leg of their 'nightmarish' southern hemisphere tour with their honour intact according to coach Nick Mallett following his team's 34-12 loss to the Australia at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne.

When bracketed with last week's 31-8 result in Canberra, Mallett said Saturday's hit-out provides the ideal platform for his team ahead of next Saturday's clash with New Zealand in Christchurch.

"Against an Australian side that's got technically good, quick individuals who play the phases very well, I was very nervous that the score could mount up in the second half," Mallett said.

"Unfortunately the last 10 minutes the guys fell of a few tackles and the speed of the game caught up with a few players, but I was actually very proud of their performances over the last two weekends.

"This is an absolutely nightmarish tour for any team coming over here - if England or France came over here they wouldn't enjoy this tour. Playing away from home, I would have signed any day on only conceding 30 points to the Wallabies on two consecutive Saturdays.

"At no point did we in either Test look like we were going to get absolutely hammered - I'm really proud of the way they played."

Mallett said Australian-born flyhalf and former NRL star Craig Gower had added a new dimension to the Azzurri with his line-breaks and astute tactical kicking.

"Italy's never had a player at No.10 in my memory who can create space for the backs and ... every backline player is going to get better because of playing outside him," said Mallett of Gower.

"To not speak a word of Italian and to manage to play two Test matches in the southern hemisphere against one of the top three teams in the world is a helluva bloody performance.

"I think he's done really well."