Italy 15 Wales 26: match report and betting pointers

Result

Round two
Saturday, February 9: Stadio Olimpico, Rome

Italy 15 T: Steyn, Padovani; C: Allan; P: Allan.
Wales 26 T: Adams, Watkin; C: Biggar, Anscombe; P Anscombe 4.

Teams

Italy: J Hayward (Benetton); E Padovani (Zebre), M Campagnaro (Wasps), L Morisi (Benetton), A Esposito (Benetton); T Allan (Benetton), G Palazzani (Zebre); N Quaglio (Benetton), L Ghiraldini (Toulouse), S Ferrari (Benetton), D Sisi (Zebre), D Budd (Benetton), S Negri (Benetton), A Steyn (Zebre), S Parisse (Stade Francais). Replacements: L Bigi (Benetton), C Traore (Benetton), T Pasquali (Benetton), F Ruzza (Benetton), M Barbini (Benetton), E Gori (Benetton), I McKinley (Benetton), T Benvenuti (Benetton)

Wales: L Williams (Saracens); J Holmes (Leicester), J Davies (Scarlets, capt), O Watkin (Ospreys), J Adams (Worcester); D Biggar (Northampton), A Davies (Ospreys); N Smith (Ospreys), E Dee (Dragons), S Lee (Scarlets), J Ball (Scarlets), A Beard (Ospreys), A Wainwright (Dragons), T Young (Wasps), J Navidi (Cardiff Blues). Replacements: R Elias (Scarlets), W Jones (Scarlets), D Lewis (Cardiff Blues), A W Jones (Ospreys), R Moriarty (Dragons), G Davies (Scarlets), G Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), H Amos (Dragons).

Pre-match odds

15-2 Italy, 1-12 Wales, 50-1 draw.

First half

A second-string Wales side were slow into their stride and were quick to go for goal with early penalty opportunities. The visitors dominated possession and territory but Italy scored the only try in the opening 40.

Second half

Wales finally found a cutting edge but it was far from convincing. Italy defended well enough but weren't stretched in the same way as they were against Scotland in round one. There was huge disappointment on Italian faces that they had failed to push harder when trailing by just two points and it was clear that they sensed they had missed an opportunity.

What they said

Italy coach Conor O'Shea
"I am really disappointed. I see a group in our changing room that are so driven and have a desire to succeed. They know the scale of the challenge, but we will just dust ourselves down."

Wales coach Warren Gatland
"If we play like that against England it could be embarrassing. It wasn't a great performance, but sometimes you have to win ugly.

"I don't regret [making changes]. I was looking at the bigger picture. For us as coaches, in our last year, we want to have as good a World Cup as we can. That was the plan all along. There is no regret.

"We are two from two, and we have a couple of weeks of training before England. It sets us up nicely. A lot of people will be writing us off, which is a good position to be in. Hopefully, we will go under the radar, have two good weeks of training and get ourselves mentally and physically right."

Punting pointers

Two away wins to start with looks good for Wales but failure to pick up a bonus point may prove costly in this tournament and World Cup preparation seems to be Gatland's priority. Back in Cardiff in round three, Wales are four-point underdogs against pace-setting England.

Italy face Ireland at home next up and are offered a 28-point start. Ireland have to target a bonus-point win if they want to stay in the title hunt.

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