Ruthless Wales blow Italy away
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Wales pulled away from Italy in the second half to record an emphatic 61-20 Six Nations victory in Rome on Saturday.
The victory saw them move to the top of the Six Nations standings, putting significant pressure on Ireland and England with decisive matches at Murrayfield and Twickenham still to be played, while Italy who had looked threatening in the first half ended their campaign with just one victory.
Their victory – helped by Italy being reduced to 14 men on two occasions – ended France's slim hopes of the title as the Welsh went to eight points, the French can at best get to six if they beat England later on at Twickenham.
More pertinently the Welsh improved their points difference to plus 53 leaving the English requiring a victory of 16 points over the French and the defending champions Ireland a demanding 20 point win over the Scots in Edinburgh.
Both Ireland and England are on six points.
However, Wales will have to wait to receive the trophy as the authentic one is at Twickenham and a replica at Murrayfield leaving no possibility of a third one in Rome.
If they win it they will be handed it on their return to Wales on Sunday.
The match got off to a fairly scrappy start, with the teams exchanging penalties in the opening exchanges without either tryline being threatened.
Wales eventually got the first try when big Jamie Roberts burst onto a perfectly weighted grubber from Leigh Halfpenny after some impressive build-up play.
However, Italy would take the lead shortly afterwards, when left wing Giovambattista Venditti forced his way through for a try that put them 13-11 up once converted.
Things got even tougher for the visitors when Halfpenny left the pitch after taking a knee to the head, but Wales did manage to get their noses in front at half-time with a penalty from the boot of Dan Biggar.
Wales needed to extend their lead drastically to give themselves any chance of being in the mix for the Six Nations title, and they started the second half with real intent.
The pressure told when scrumhalf Rhys Webb put Liam Williams over from a quick tap, and they followed that up immediately with another try from North who linked up with the impressive Williams who had taken over from Halfpenny at fullback.
Italy were reduced to 14 men when Andrea Masi was shown a yellow card for tackling a man without the ball, and Wales took advantage as the ball was sent wide to North who scored his second try in the corner.
Wales had their tails up and it was not long before North claimed his hat-trick, mowing down defenders on his way to scoring next to the poles to put his side 42-13 ahead.
Masi had not been back on the field long before Italy were down to 14 again as South African-born replacement lock Quintin Geldenhuys was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements at the breakdown.
Webb was the next to score for Wales, and the half-century was raised when skipper Sam Warburton was on hand to round off a superb team try.
The next try came from their own tryline, as they ran the length of the field for Scott Williams to score, but Italy would have the final say as right wing Leonardo Sarto scored in the corner.
Man of the match: Liam Williams was impressive in his move to fullback and scrumhalf Rhys Webb was threatening throughout, but you cannot look past hat-trick hero George North.
Moment of the match: Not one moment, but rather ten minutes which saw North run in three tries to effectively end the game as a contest.
Villain of the match: Andrea Masi's yelow card put his side under immense pressure and Wales were able to take the game away from them while he was off the field.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Venditti, Sarto
Cons: Orquera 2
Pens: Haimona, Orquera
For Wales:
Tries: Roberts, L Williams, North 3, Webb, Warburton, S Williams
Cons: Biggar 6
Pens: Halfpenny 2, Biggar
Yellow cards: Andrea Masi (Italy, 53 – foul play, tackling a player without the ball), Quintin Geldenhuys (Italy, 65 – Repeated infringements at the breakdown)
Teams:
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Andrea Masi, 11 Giovambattista Venditti, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Samuela Vunisa, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Joshua Furno, 4 George Fabio Biagi, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Luciano Orquera, 23 Enrico Bacchin.
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Rob Evans.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Jake Ball, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Scott Williams.
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Luke Pearce (England)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
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