There comes a point watching a team unravel when the facts and figures begin to tell the story. Wales after this weekend will be ranked lower than Georgia, dropping to 12th in the world rankings. Their record losing run has now reached 14 Tests. And since Warren Gatland returned at the start of 2023, they have played 26 Tests and lost 20 of them. The incessant downpour in Rome reflected the sorry mood around this Wales side, peaking with a yellow card for veteran wing Josh Adams for a high tackle with considerable force on Paolo Garbisi which looked on first viewing as though it could have been red. Adams earlier on also had two good chances go begging – even in grim conditions he would have backed himself to score.
Under review 🙅♂️. Josh Adams is sent to the bin for head-on-head contact with Garbisi 🟨#ITVRugby | #GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/CrUz3WrGIk. The Stadio Olimpico DJ’s decision to play Eiffel 65’s classic ‘I’m Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ after the final whistle was certainly pertinent. The bookends of this Test match were when Wales played best, controlling the early kicking exchanges with good height on their kicks and hard work from their chasers, before grabbing two late tries thanks to their pack which added some flattery to the scoreline. The rest was concerning. After the first 10 minutes, Wales lost the kicking battle and everything began to fall apart.
Sebastian Negri hounded their line-out, weakened enormously by the loss before the match of Dafydd Jenkins to illness. Danilo Fischetti, Italy’s super impressive prop, had Henry Thomas at the scrum. And with the half-backs Martin Page-Relo and Garbisi beginning to settle and improving the accuracy of their own kicks, now it was Wales who could not escape. Coming into any Six Nations game as favourites was rarefied air for Italy and their record in that position was poor. Hence why Gonzalo Quesada spoke so positively afterwards about his side’s ability to not only handle the grim conditions, but how well they handled the extra pressure that came with being favourites.
“With the conditions today it was super important to play for territory, have a good set-piece, a lot of discipline, a huge amount of effort to keep this game under control. Both things are really positive, the fact that they deal with this extra pressure of being favourites perfectly well, which for Latin teams is not the easiest thing to do,” said the Italy head coach. A highlight of Italy’s performance at Murrayfield had been how well Tommaso Allan had kicked for goal, and every penalty given up by Wales in their own half felt like three points. Negri’s effective kick chase preceded Italy successfully using the platform of an attacking scrum, with Fischetti ramping up the power before Italy attacked the blindside. Garbisi’s dummy was a delight before Ange Capuozzo latched onto the fly-half’s grubber kick for the opening try.
💚🤍❤️ A thing of beauty 💚🤍❤️#ITVRugby | #GuinnessM6N |@Federugby pic.twitter.com/1KpR19zNPT. 🇮🇹 A wonderful finish from Ange Capuozzo! 🇮🇹. Italy dominate the scrum and Garbisi has the vision to put Capuozzo in the corner 💥#ITVRugby | #GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/GGZdHyXFHy. Add in the breakdown threat for Italy of Lorenzo Cannone, winning consecutive turnover penalties, and Italy’s lead looked commanding. They rarely came away from Wales’ 22 without any points, whereas two late attacks for Warren Gatland’s side, including a line-out move where they ended up in touch, were ineffective. Down 16-3 at half-time, it was hard to see a way back. The sight of Wales going backwards 20 metres in attack, having actually won back a restart, was desperate.
A couple of missed penalties from Allan – neither were easy chances but his form has been so good they came as a surprise – almost gave Wales hope, which was telling. But Adams’ yellow card felt calamitous, catching Garbisi head on head running in to make a tackle after a catch. With Allan’s radar working again as he added three more. Wales, it cannot be stressed enough, felt completely out of this contest until the rarest of trips to Italy’s 22 with 12 minutes left. Freddie Thomas had a score ruled out for double movement but Wales won a penalty and turned to the maul, finished off by Aaron Wainwright in the corner with Dan Edwards’s touchline conversion hitting the post.
Another Allan penalty, his fifth, looked to ease any nerves but a run of late penalties at the maul against Italy became a problem, inviting Welsh pressure and eventually giving Matthew Carley no option but to award a penalty try and to sin-bin two Italian players, Marco Riccioni and Dino Lamb, within the space of a minute. Fifteen against 13 with 60 seconds left. Surely Wales couldn’t pull this off, could they? No. They never left their own 22. Italy’s defence held firm, Marco Zuliani pouncing for the winning turnover.
Such had been the gap in quality and control that it would have been a bit of a travesty had Italy lost. The Azzurri have now won three of the last four in this fixture and as desperate as Wales’ decline has been, Italy’s progress has to be applauded. Did the Italy captain Michele Lamaro, who so often had been questioned about the validity of Italy’s place in the Six Nations, have much sympathy for Wales? A little.
