Wales Complete the Italian Job

Unlike Michael Caine, Wales came home with the booty with a thumping 7-48 win in Rome against the hapless if not hopeless Italians. The game was up for the Italians after half an hour when Wales were leading 0-27 and had already secured the try four bonus point. Wales had played well and had all but blown the home side away with a mixture of power and pace coupled with strong defence. Tries from Adams, Faletau and a brace from Owens meant that we could all relax. This was exhilarating stuff and quite different to the usual struggle for sixty minutes or so in Rome.

George North added a further try just after half time to take the score to 0-34 and this was the cue for Wales to make a raft of substitutions. Of went North, Francis and Biggar closely followed by Falteau, Owens, Alun Wyn Jones and Gareth Davies and finally Wyn Jones. The spine of the team had been removed and the game became much more competitive as the substitutions from both sides bedded in.

The Italians seized their chance to get on the scoreboard when the combative Ioane score a try while all the substitutions were being made. Wales were guilty of making handling errors and giving away penalties which gave the Italians possession and territory. Wales however did slam the door on any kind of Italian comeback with a smart try from Sheedy looping round to gather a pass from Navidi.

The Italians were not about to give up and were pressing hard in the Wales twenty two when the ball went loose. Rees Zammit picked up the ball and after a swift pirouette sped off down the wing. There was only going to be one out come – Wales had their seventh try and had brought the score to 7-48 with fifteen minutes left.

The last fifteen minutes really belonged to the brave Italians as they monopolised possession as the Welsh level dropped as thoughts turned to Paris the following weekend. Try as they may the Azurri could not add to their tally and they trudged off the field suffering yet another heavy defeat. Final score Italy 7 Wales 48.

Overall Wales can return to base with a feeling of a job well done. Sure, there is still plenty to work on, but they are improving with every game and have gathered a whole lot of momentum to carry forward. They secured a comfortable victory with no obvious injury or disciplinary worries and managed to reduce the workload for most of their key players. They will head to Paris next weekend confident that they can give a good account of themselves in the final leg of a potential Grand Slam that looked a million miles away in December.

The second course to be served up was what looked to be a tasty encounter between England and France at Twickenham. Part of me wanted England to win and the other part wanted France to win so a draw would have been a good outcome.

The first half was a pulsating affair with both sides running the ball at almost every opportunity. France scored in the first couple of minutes but England quickly countered. It was end to end stuff with plenty of thrills and spills as England to a large extent cast off their normal box kicking routine. France shaded the first half going in with a narrow 13-17 lead.

The second half was far cagier with both sides guilty of errors that curtailed the continuity we had seen in the first half. The outcome was a scrappy tense affair as the substitutions were made and there was little to choose between the two sides. An exchange of penalties gave France a slender 16-20 lead as the clock ticked down to the remaining few minutes. England got good field possession and Itoje was awarded the decisive try from close range after the TMO overruled the referee’s on-field decision. France had three minutes to resurrect their Grand Salm hopes but rather squandered a decent opportunity as time ran out. The French team and management looked devastated as the final whistle blew. Final score England 23 France 20.

Well all this leaves Wales as the only contenders for the Grand Slam although France and Scotland can both still win the Championship with bonus point wins in their remaining fixtures. Who would have thought it? Scotland take on Ireland at Murrayfield today before playing Italy and then France (in the postponed fixture in Paris) and will need three good wins to remain in contention.

Next week sees Wales make the trip to Paris to take on France. There are times when the French team look fantastic. When they move the ball at pace and get their off-loading game going no one can touch them. They play a high risk, open style of rugby in attack while Sean Edwards has stiffened up their defence. They rather petered out in the fourth quarter against England as their lack of rugby and their problems with Covid 19 possibly caught up with them. Wales cannot expect this to happen next weekend but do know that their players have not had such a tough match to recover from in the next week. It promises to be gripping encounter.

Will Wales make any changes for the trip to France? I suspect changes will be kept to an absolute minimum - fitness permitting. The positions that might be looked at are: scrum half if Tomos Williams or Hardy are fit, the return of Beard at lock and inside centre where Jon Davies is still not playing as we know he can. We are looking a pretty settled side now though and the pattern of play is continuing to develop. Long may it last.

Come on Wales!