The Welsh rugby team have seemingly had the weight of the world on their shoulders with all that has been going on in Welsh rugby over the last few weeks. This of course is on top of a dismal run of defeats that has served to rack up the pressure on Warren Gatland and his men. It will surely have done the squad good to get away from the goldfish bowl that is Wales and travel to Rome to take on the resurgent Italians. The Italians have looked the better team but like Wales have not managed to secure a victory in the Six Nations so far. The last match for Wales is in Paris next weekend so they really did need a victory in Rome if they were not going to end up with the wooden spoon. No pressure then!
It was great to see Wales playing with much more verve
and passion in the first half. They certainly looked like a team again thank
goodness. For once the rugby gods smiled on them and they had a decent slice of
luck with the bounce of the ball. They also had the recalled Rhys Webb who was
not about to let slip maybe his last opportunity to show what he can do in a red
shirt. Webb put on a masterclass of scrum half play as he pulled the strings to
great effect.
The Italians for their part seemed to find their unaccustomed
role of favourites not to their liking and looked nervous as they made too many
errors. This and the improved Welsh performance resulted in Wales building up a
substantial 3-22 lead in the first half with three tries in the bag. A rather fortunate
bounce of the ball saw Dyer score the first while Liam Williams showed his
power to force his way past five defenders to score the second. A penalty try
after powerful work by the forwards put the icing on the cake on a great forty
minutes.
I suppose this couldn’t last and the Italians played
with far more purpose and skill in the second half. They scored early and this seemed
to suck the confidence out of Wales. I think everyone’s mind went back to the
Australia game in the Autumn when a similar sort of lead disappeared. That was
everyone but Webb. The Italians were shorthanded due to a yellow card for Bruno
(which incidentally should have been red). Webb made a break near the halfway
line and looked like he might score himself but the Italian cover got to him.
There was Faletau galloping up in support and he gleefully took Webb’s offload
to score the fourth Wales try. The conversion restored a nineteen point lead (10-29)
but there was still half an hour to go.
Webb departed not long after following treatment to a
calf injury and was replaced by Tomas Williams. Both sides emptied their
benches and the Italians looked stronger and attacked with purpose. The Welsh
kicking game deteriorated and allowed the Italians the space to counterattack. Stubborn
Welsh defence and Italian profligacy, however, restricted the Italians to just
one try. It was a hard watch but all of Wales was delighted to hear the final
whistle and Wales had a 17-29 bonus point win against all the odds.
The scoreboard suggests otherwise but this was not a
convincing Welsh victory. The most important thing was that it was a victory.
At the moment, that is surely enough! It is something to build on but it is worrying that it took a thirty four
year old scrum half to show us the way.
We were then treated to a tremendous all round display
by the French who dismantled England at Twickenham. England were outplayed, out-thought
and outfought and out just about everything else as the French racked up fifty
three points. Borthwick and his England squad were left bewitched, bothered and bewildered and will need to do some serious work to recover from this drubbing.
It was great to watch but, as a Welshman, your mind moves
on to Paris next week and what France might do to Wales if they continue in
this vein of form. I had better reserve my place behind the couch just in case.
You never know though ….
This afternoon Scotland take on Ireland for the Triple
Crown. It should be a good match but I think Ireland will be just too strong.
Well done Wales and good luck next weekend!
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