Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is adamant the players he has promoted at the expense of big names like Matt Giteau have earned their spots and are not part of an experiment against Italy.

Superstar Giteau, prop Benn Robinson, injured halfback Will Genia and lock Mark Chisholm were all dropped to the Australian bench for Saturday's (0100 Sunday AEDT) match in Florence.

Reserves Dean Mumm and Richard Brown were dumped from the 22 altogether as Australia desperately look to recover from consecutive losses to England and provincial side Munster.

Centre Berrick Barnes, lock Rob Simmons and prop James Slipper were the surprise inclusions in the run-on side.

Deans said he was not taking the opportunity of playing the world No.12 Italians to have a look at his options, describing contributions from former benchmen Barnes and halfback Luke Burgess as critical.

"Some of their performances have been decisive for us and their reward is a start right from the front end," Deans said.

"You've seen all of them, they've all played well and hence they're starting."

But Deans shied away from saying players had been dropped for poor form, saying a squad mentality was what the selectors were after.

"Obviously those blokes (who have been replaced) would rather be starting, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"I guess they'll bring that hunger to it when and if they hit the ground."

Barnes will take over the first-choice goalkicking duties in the absence of winger James O'Connor, with five-eighth Quade Cooper and fullback Kurtley Beale the back-ups.

Cooper, who will reunite with his former Queensland midfield partner Barnes, came under heavy fire after the loss to England for his six missed tackles.

He survived to wear the No.10 jersey again despite a warning from Deans this week to lift his defensive game or face the same fate as Giteau and co.

Cooper said he'd been doing extra tackling work with some of the Wallabies' forwards.

"I had a few of the boys over helping out, that's all you can do," he said. "The more repetition and the more blokes you tackle, the better you get."

"It's obviously a focus, but just like every other part of my game."

Genia (ribs) still needs to be given the OK by medical staff, with rookie halfback Nick Phipps, who hasn't played a Super Rugby game, to debut on the bench if the Reds No.9 is ruled out.

The Italian scrum will again be the home side's focus at a narrow Stadio Artemio Franchi ground, particularly with Australia still to convince they have overcome the wobbles they experienced in Cardiff two weeks ago.

"It's their heart and soul, they always get their mentality as a pack from there," returning hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau said.

"They're really well known to damage some scrums so we're obviously doing our homework."

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