Hello and welcome to Australia’s first game of the World Cup. They take on Italy at North Harbour Stadium in Albany

Italy win the lineout but they are still in trouble as they have only made it back to their 22, until Semenzato boots upfield. The ball goes out on the full though and Australia will have the lineout on the halfway line

Elsom finds Alexander out the back of the ruck as the Wallabies push for the line from the Italian 22. Genia finds Pocock, finds Genia again, finds Beale. Beale puts in a kick through for Ashley-Cooper but the Australian fullback can't quite get there before being pushed into touch

Elsom easily beats Benvenuti to break the Italian line before Lo Cicero finally brings down the former skipper. Elsom is again in action almost immediately after Australia lose the ball when he takes on Masi and causing the Italian fullback to spill the ball in the process

PENALTY AUSTRALIA! 3-0! This time Cooper does slot the ball right between the posts and Australia have the lead

Australia boot the ball upfield on the collection and immediately Cooper gets the chance to punish Italy for missing that penalty kick as the Azzurri are penalised at the break down ...

Bergamasco has a decent shot at goal but fails on his distance, he's about 10m short of the posts but the kick was from just inside the half-way line so he won't find that too disappointing a miss

Italy win the ball back. Ghiraldini to Masi before Vickerman costs his side five metres and a penalty. Mirco Bergamasco will have Italy's first kick at goal ...

It's still pretty scrappy from both teams at the moment with neither side having settled into things. It has stopped raining by the ball and field is still pretty greasy

Adam Ashley-Cooper drops the ball when he tries to collect a high ball and Stephen Moore ends up taking it in an offside position. Italy will kick upfield for position

Cooper puts another kick upfield and gets a little lucky that his ball doesn't go out on the full. It just bounces before going out and it'll be a lineout

Will Genia loses the ball and Italy collects. Andrea Masi puts a great kick through up the left wing before setting off in chase and it takes some desperate defence from Cooper to prevent an Italy try. Cooper just gets there in time and scoops up the ball before sliding over the dead ball line

A poor pass from Cooper to Genia is scooped up by Beale, who finds Ioane on the wing before he is bundled into touch

Cooper pulls his kick from right in front of the posts wide of the right upright to squander the chance. But good news for Italy, Gonzalo Garcia is up on his feet and will be able to play on

Cooper has a penalty kick from about 40m out in the swirling winds and perhaps unsurprisingly in New Zealand, he is receiving quite a few boos as he prepares for the kick

Italy collect their second attempt at the lineout before kicking upfield. Ashley-Cooper collects but Garcia goes down and he is not moving. He clashed with Dan Vickerman and seemed to catch a knee to the head in the tackle and he looks to be in some trouble. He was out by the time he hit the floor

Cooper sends a great kick through along the floor and it dribbles out on the five metre line giving the Aussies an early chance to put some pressure on Italy

The rain has got considerably worse in the time since the national anthems and it is now absolutely belting down as Cooper gets the clash underway for the Wallabies.

The weather has been pretty shocking in and around Auckland today and although Albany has avoided the worst of it, there are a few drops of raining falling as the athems ring around the 30,000 capacity ground

Today's referee will be Alain Rolland from Ireland. Rolland is an incredibly experienced referee, and this is his third World Cup.

Australia hosted the World Cup back in 2003 and reached the final before losing that incredibly tight match to England. Still need to know more?

Australia, meanwhile, shape up like this: 15-Kurtley Beale, 14-Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13-Anthony Fainga'a, 12-Pat McCabe, 11-Digby Ioane, 10-Quade Cooper, 9-Will Genia, 8-Radike Samo, 7-David Pocock, 6-Rocky Elsom, 5-James Horwill (captain), 4-Dan Vickerman, 3-Ben Alexander, 2-Stephen Moore, 1-Sekope Kepu. Replacements: 16-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17-James Slipper, 18-Rob Simmons, 19-Ben McCalman, 20-Scott Higginbotham, 21-Luke Burgess, 22-James O'Connor