Wales made 10 changes to their starting team but still equalled their record run of 11 successive Test wins, and will now break a record set in 1910 if they beat England in Cardiff on 23rd February 2019. Centre Jonathan Davies captained Wales for the first time while flankers Thomas Young and Aaron Wainwright, wing Jonah Holmes and scrum-half Aled Davies all made their first Six Nations starts.
Despite all the changes and inexperience, Wales won comfortably, yet unconvincingly. Wales had all the possession and territory in the first half, but only had 4 penalties to show for it, They paid the price when Italy scored the first try after capitalising on a sliced Josh Adams kick, when the outstanding Steyn went over from the resulting lineout, and Italy were only 7 - 12 behind at halftime.
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Wales continued to struggle to convert pressure into points, until Liam Williams sliced through the Italian defence to set up a try for Josh Adams, and then Watkin scored a second following an Anscombe kick. Italy responded with a second try of their own, following a Tomasso Allan break to set up Padovani, and put Wales under great pressure in the closing stages, although realistically never looked like clawing back the two score deficit.
So, Wales won ugly again, but failed to score a bonus point against the Italians, which may come back to haunt them if they beat England at home in a weeks' time, and then play Ireland for the Championship. Italy are now on a record of 19 losing matches in the Six Nations with their last victory coming against Scotland in February 2015, and their last home victory being Ireland six years ago.
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