Advertisement
A. Wainwright (14', 24'), D. Lake (28'), D. Edwards (43')
Tries
T. Bartolomeo (51'), T. Allan (68'), P. Garbisi (80')
D. Edwards (15', 25', 29', 44')
Conversions
P. Garbisi (52')
D. Edwards (47')
Drop Goals
Is this what happiness feels like? For the first time in over two years, Wales’ men’s national rugby union team have made their fans happy. Yes, they had beaten Japan twice in that time and there had been respectable showings in various defeats (kinda) but those games all came with multitudes of caveats, excuses, and an underlying feeling that things still weren’t great.
On Saturday, Wales won a game of international rugby against a decent team by playing good rugby. That sentence alone represents a turning point for this side. What makes it even more gratifying is that we can say with confidence that Wales got better in every single week of the Six Nations. That is not only credit to the players but the coaches too – Steve Tandy & Co have now proved their worth.
Ahead of the match, fans were quietly optimistic of a win – enough to allow themselves a little hope, anyway. Truthfully, it would have been disappointing if they hadn’t won; Italy may be much improved and have picked up some great results, but remain reliant on winning tight games with defence, set piece and a world class centre. If Wales couldn’t figure out a way past that, in a game that was effectively a cup final, t would have been a massive red flag for this coaching group.
Tandy was rightly criticised at the start of the tournament. The performance against England was simply unacceptable and there remains a sense that selections are arrived at through trial and error rather than strategy and planning. However, regardless of how low the bar was, it is inarguable that he has cleared it. He deserves credit for that.
On the pitch, we finally saw Matt Sherratt’s 10-12 dual playmaker axis click. Saturday was Joe Hawkins’ best game for Wales so far. He varied up his game between carrying, kicking, and distributing, showing real quality in all three departments. More crucially, however, was the fact he truly stepped up as a first receiver and could be seen calling the attacking shape throughout the first hour.
This allowed Dan Edwards to slip back into second receiver – the role he is far more effective. There was no better example of this than in Edwards’ own try, where Hawkins stands at 10 and pulls the ball back to Edwards in space, allowing him to play his natural game and use is underrated pace to exploit a gap in the Italian defence.
Wales’ three other tries all came through the forwards, two of which were courtesy of the outstanding Aaron Wainwright. There is no argument: Wainwright was the best number 8 in this tournament. A couple of weeks ago, ITV shared a clip of Wainwright being told he was statistically the second best carrier in the Six Nations. In response, the Dragons man said simply one word: ‘actions’.
With one word, he summed up the mindset of the Wales players who have survived the horrors of the past two seasons. These are young men who achieved their childhood dream of playing for Wales, only for that dream to become a nightmare. Daf Jenkins has spoken of the guilt that racked him during Wales’ losing run and he will not have been alone in that. Yet the players always refused the offers of excuses – they wanted to make things right.
In this game, though, no player embodied they sheer need for a victory more than winger Josh Adams. Adams has seen the highs of playing for Wales: Grand Slams, championships, World Cup semi-finals, beating the Springboks away – he has been there and done that. Beating Italy at home will never represent the zenith of his career, but his performance on Saturday was out of this world – typified by a tap tackle on Menoncello to save a try, even though the game was already won.
Ironically, it was Italian coach Gonzalo Quesada who summed up the game best. Ahead of kick-off he said this one was a must-win for Wales. Afterwards, he observed that Italy had had three tries disallowed in the game: a foot in touch, a goal-line knock on and a held-up maul. When margins are that small, said Quesada, it comes down to who wants it more.
Whilst Italy missed out on an historic third win in a single tournament, Quesada should not be too disappointed. Injuries had ravaged his squad before the tournament, leading to him using the fewest players after four rounds. What’s more, the players were never going to hit the emotional heights they did against England last week.
For what it’s worth, Italy did finish the stronger team. They scored three second half tries and had another three ruled out. Menoncello was unplayable and Carmarthen’s own Stephen Varney made an excellent cameo from the bench – showing why many think he is Italy’s best 9. In mounting their mini comeback, they showed this Wales team is still fallible. The red wall can still be easily breached, even by so-so attacks, and there is still a fragility to their collective mentality.
The positivity after the game was such that even the miserable figure of WRU head of performance Dave Reddin trying to shit all over the celebrations on the BBC went somewhat unnoticed. His appearance was a reminder that Welsh Rugby is still very much in crisis and that Saturdays’ win was little more than a distraction from the gloom. In the build up to the game, Swansea City Council published meeting minutes that showed the Ospreys’ own CEO Lance Bradley was planning for their demise - just another day at the circus round here.
For the national team, though, the path ahead is clear: Wales now have a matchday 23 that we know can work, with Jac Morgan to bring back into it. Wales’ next game is against the Barbarians, which they should win. After that, they face Fiji in Cardiff, which is tough but winnable. They then go on to face Argentina away – who you never know what to expect from – before heading to South Africa to face the Springboks.
Those matches get progressively harder as the summer goes on, which is exactly what a team building its confidence needs. It is not unthinkable that Wales could have won 4 games in a row before they pitch up in Durban to face Rassie Erasmus’ men, with two spirited defeats preceding that.
No one in their right mind would predict the 0-73 humiliation of November to be avenged, but knocking 50 points off the margin would be a start. They then face Japan once again in November. Hence, 5 wins in is now the target. From where they were 6 weeks ago, that represent huge progress.
