It was always going to be a difficult day for Italy facing Wales in the Stadio Olympico without Sergio Parisse, but it would be the scrum that proved to be the Achilles’ heel of the home side, allowing Wales to continue to build their confidence after winning in Paris. After a promising start to the Six Nations beating France, Italy will need to regroup after two defeats on the bounce while Wales will be playing with the knowledge that the hope of defending their title is still very much alive.Early on in the game Italy looked to defend well, keeping a good number of players back to counter the Halfpenny threat as due to conditions the bombs were sure to rain down all afternoon and the kicking game to be as vital as ever. However it would be Italy’s own indiscipline that would gift Wales their first 3 points. Italy were never really in the game yet a poor Welsh scrum allowed Italy to level up when Jenkins was penalised for pulling down the scrum.
Man of the Match Leigh Halfpenny proved to play a critical role once again in the Welsh performance kicking 4 from 5 penalties and converting both tries. He also ended the early attack by Italy, making the vital tackle and stopping Wales conceding.
Italy’s pack was outplayed and was dominated by the Welsh scrum. Jenkins got the better of Castrogiovanni several times gifting Wales 3 points and allowing them to keep creeping ahead on the scoreboard. Wales forced the errors, turnovers and penalties, taking the ball away from Italy which once they finally won, Wales slowed down allowing themselves to build a better defence.
Although Wales had enjoyed most possession and dominance Italy tried to hold on to the game, Canale making an excellent tap-tackle on Cuthbert during the first half and Wales had no answer to players such as Castrogiovanni coming around the ruck to play the ball putting pressure on Mike Phillips. However Italy failed to take their chances, not exploiting the space created out wide by the Welsh blitz defence and Burton constantly kicking ball away back to Wales halting any attacking opportunities for the home side.
After a poor restart almost allowing Italy in for the try it become one way traffic, with Burton missing his second drop goal attempt and a fantastic chip over the top from Wales allowing Davies to kick and collect to go over for the first of two tries for the men in red. With stand-in captain Castrogiovanni in the sin bin, Wales crossed the whitewash again through great dummy play, forcing Canale to take the wrong player and not drift out wide allowing Cuthbert to hit the line at speed and go over for the try for Wales.It seemed Italy did more to defeat themselves than Wales did, with errors killing any momentum they may have had, allowing Wales to leave them slow ball and Burton’s kicking constantly handing back the ball. Perhaps the biggest achievement for Wales was how the atmosphere in the stadium changed and how they conquered the Italian fortress, an endeavour only helped by the yellow card for Castrogiovanni which not only sent him to the bin but Italian hearts sinking.
Leigh Halfpenny had another excellent all round game while Rob Howley finally rewarded Tipuric by replacing Ryan Jones with Sam Warburton, leaving him on the field after another excellent performance at openside. Clever play meant a more well-rounded Welsh performance and quick line speed pushed back the gain line when Italy attacked.
Although Italy put in a spirited performance, Minto in particular made good carries and took on a lot of work, it was the dominance of the Welsh scrum coupled with Italy’s own indiscipline that gave Wales their well-earned win. Italy face the unenviable task of facing England at Twickenham next, with another equally unforgiving pack waiting for them and will surely need to take a good look at their error count and also their tactics at 10 – Burton’s irresponsible kicking showed he was incapable of orchestrating the home side and killed off any pressure they applied.
Meanwhile Wales will surely be fancying their chances for lifting the Six Nations trophy the year after their Grand Slam with only Scotland and England standing in their way.
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