Free-flowing Welsh Side too Strong for Italy
The final weekend of an intriguing 2016 Six Nations tournament got under way in Cardiff, at Wales’ Millennium Stadium. After losing to their neighbours England the previous weekend, Warren Gatland’s side were looking to secure a second-placed finish with a victory over opponents Italy.
For Jacques Brunel’s Italian side, the Six Nations had begun with a great deal of promise, losing by just two points in Paris against a resilient French side. However, three comfortable defeats against England, Scotland and Ireland respectively had left the Italian’s as certain wooden spoon winners in need of their first points of the tournament.
Nevertheless, the competition was only to get worse for the visitors, as Wales amassed a total of nine tries to the Italian’s two, as Gatland’s side were well out of reach even before the half-time whistle sounded.
Rhys Webb, Jonathan Davies and Dan Biggar all scored first half tries, as Wales established a 27-0 lead at the break. Six more tries came in the second period, including two for Ross Moriarty from the substitute’s bench.
Scrum-half Webb waited until just the fifth minute to opening the scoring as he touched over from close-range, enabling Biggar to add a further two points with a relatively simple conversion for a player of such class.
Following on from another two scores for Biggar from the tee, the second try of the match came when giant-centre Jamie Roberts dashed towards the Italian line before offloading to fly-half Biggar to finish off the move.
Try number three was just as easy for the dominant hosts; Robert’s centre-partner Davies collected the ball out-wide before manoeuvring his way inside the two remaining Italian defenders to place the ball down for 25-0.
Biggar then capped an excellent first-half display by kicking successfully from the tee to take his points total in the opening period to 17.
From the moment Romain Poite blew his whistle for the beginning of the second-half, the Welsh XV continued to strengthen their lead.
The home side’s fourth try came from a deserved-source; Wales again targeted the Italian left-wing and Roberts join his outside-centre Davies to score an unconverted try.
Another player in-form stepped up for the fifth of Wales’ nine tries; George North showing guile to go with his pace and power as he side-stepped the Italian defence, coming inside to add to the away sides’ misery.
Brunel’s Italy finally got off the mark – already 37-0 down – with a Guglielmo Palazzani touching down after he had directed a driving maul that came from an Italian line-out that was deep in the Welsh 22. Kelly Haimona – off the bench – added a further two points.
Liam Williams looked to re-establish his sides’ 37-point lead by finishing off a try that was made by the excellent North. Biggar once again kicked successfully.
The next two tries – one for the home side and one for the visitors – came in quick succession.
First, former Scottish U20 – now Italian fly-half – Tommaso Allan enticed three players towards the ball, before handling the ball to the grateful Gonzalo Garcia for Italy’s second try of the match.
Just three minutes later Moriarty scored his first international try by finishing from a driving maul, enabling Rhys Priestland to score his first points of the match after replacing Biggar.
With just two minutes to go, Italian misery was not over yet; Moriarty added a second international try and fellow substitute Gareth Davies also touched down for the hosts. A further six points attained through the boot of Priestland.
With both sides’ Six Nations coming to an end as Poite blew his whistle for the final time in the match, Wales would have been disappointed with another second-placed finish; however, a free-flowing display against Italy offered hope for the near future. For Italy, there was to be no hope generated from the tournament, as they were well-behind the pace once more, failing to pick up points in any of their fixtures.
