by James Dodd
Date: 05/12/2020
Venue: Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli
Competition: Autumn Nations Cup
WALES ended their Autumn Nations Cup with an encouraging 20-point win over the Italians to finish fifth place in the competition.
Tries from Kieran Hardy, Sam Parry, Gareth Davies, George North and Justin Tipuric alongside the immaculate boot of Callum Sheedy helped Wales to victory.
The standout player was easily Taulupe Faletau, who was involved in the build-up of a couple of tries, as well as carrying and defending hard throughout.
There will be a lot of worry for Welsh fans in the coming days as early in the first half Liam Williams had to leave the field.
Italy did respond with two tries of their own, thanks to Marco Zanon and Johan Meyer. Paolo Garbisi scored the remaining points for the visitors with one conversion and two penalties.
🏴38-18 🇮🇹#WALvITA ⑊ #HWFN pic.twitter.com/uJAuwgZBar
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏉 (@WelshRugbyUnion) December 5, 2020
It was a perfect start for the hosts just under seven minutes. A beautiful pop pass from Faletau meant Tipuric was clean through, and after a wonderful dummy he fed Kieran Hardy for his first international try. Callum Sheedy added the simple conversion.
Soon after, Wales found themselves a yard from the Italian’s line. A good pick up and go saw Sam Parry get over for also his first ever international score.
However, the momentum then worked its way to the men in blue. A Garbisi penalty after Sheedy failed to roll away gave them their opening points.
The Azzurri then worked their way back up the field into the Welsh 22. A solid maul led to a slick grubber kick by Carlo Canna and with no Welsh player covering the backfield, it was a simple finish for Zanon.
This fantastic few minutes continued just before half-time when Josh Adams killed the ball after a dangerous break from Welsh-born Stephen Varney. The resulting penalty was converted to make the difference at the break just a single point.
Despite an early second-half penalty by Sheedy, Italy kept their tails up. A neat break from Jacopo Trulla started things off, who then offloaded to debutant Monty Ioane.
The ball was eventually shifted to the other wing, where Johan Meyer was given plenty of space and finished in the corner, despite the best efforts of Ioan Lloyd.
A good response was needed and that’s what the Welsh provided. Tipuric and Faletau linked up again to create the break for substitute Davies.
His excellent acceleration gave him yet another five points for his country.
Any hope of a famous away win was then dashed for Italy when North scored his 10th try against the side ranked 14th in the world. After the ball was turned over and several backs got their hands on the ball, Jonah Holmes was stopped a few metres short.
North then was able to use his strength to power over.
Wales had not finished just yet. A sublime delayed pass from Sheedy meant Faletau was in acres of space and unselfishly fed Tipuric to score.
The 38-18 win is only the third under Pivac, who’s next game will be in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations when his side play Ireland.
Wales: Liam Williams, Josh Adams, George North, Jonathan Davies, Louis Rees-Zammit, Callum Sheedy, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Sam Parry, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Alun Wyn Jones (captain), James Botham, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Leon Brown, Cory Hill, Aaron Wainwright, Gareth Davies, Ioan Lloyd, Jonah Holmes.
Italy: Jacopo Trulla, Luca Sperandio, Marco Zanon, Carlo Canna, Monty Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Bigi (captain), Giosuè Zilocchi, Marco Lazzaroni, Niccolo Cannone, Maxime Mbanda, Johan Meyer, Braam Steyn.
Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Pietro Ceccarelli, Cristian Stoian, Michele Lamaro, Guglielmo Palazzani, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.