WALES endured a disastrous World Cup warm-up against Italy – winning a dour encounter but seeing key figures Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny stretchered off at the Millennium Stadium.

Warren Gatland’s men triumphed 23-19 against the Azzurri but it is a game that will be remembered for medical reasons rather than rugby.

It was the stuff of nightmares with scrum-half Rhys Webb stretchered off with a suspected broken left ankle in the first half before full-back Leigh Halfpenny joined him in the treatment room after appearing to twist his right knee badly.

To lose two pivotal players just weeks from the start of England 2015 will lead to Wales’ odds of making it out of the ‘pool of death’ against England, Australia and Fiji lengthening considerably.

Ospreys scrum-half Webb got trapped at a ruck in the first half and the 26-year-old – who scored tries against Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland and Italy last season – was in agony.

A likely lengthy lay-off may lead to Lions scrum-half Mike Phillips answering an injury SOS.

Halfpenny had booted Wales towards victory by the time he landed awkwardly when chasing a high ball. He was given oxygen as he was stretchered off.

If he receives dreaded news then Liam Williams is the natural replacement at full-back with Alex Cuthbert and Hallam Amos tussling for a spot on the wing while perhaps Dragons teenage wing/centre Tyler Morgan could be called up into the 31.

The injuries would have overshadowed anything Wales did but as it was they were insipid against the Azzurri.

Gatland will have learnt very little from an error-strewn encounter played out in front of a subdued crowd following Webb’s blow.

Wales made a nightmare start when wing Alex Cuthbert’s pass was picked off by Italian inspiration Sergio Parisse, whose 60-metre gallop was ended just shy of the line by a superb Scott Williams tackle only for the ball to be recycled for Leonardo Sarto to barge over.

Tommaso Allan’s conversion smacked against the left post but he made no mistake with a 10th minute penalty to make it 8-0, exploiting a sluggish start that would have made steam come out of Gatland’s ears.

However, he would have been happier when wing George North was put over down the left from a lovely pass by Williams, who has sparked the attacking move with a super counter-attacking break.

Wales were attempting to pick up the tempo to trouble the heavy Azzurri pack only to be hindered by a frustratingly high error count.

And the sting was taken completely out of the game when Webb went down after 26 minutes – referee George Clancy stopping play immediately.

Wales were level swiftly after the resumption but Halfpenny’s penalty was soon cancelled out by another Allan three-pointer and the game limped to half-time.

Halfpenny levelled early in the second half but the game followed the same scrappy pattern of the first 40 minutes.

The full-back inched Wales into the lead for the first time as the game entered the final quarter only for Carlo Canna to bang over a smart drop goal after an off-colour Taulupe Faletau shelled his second restart of the game.

Halfpenny then knocked over a pair of penalties before he was stretchered off to join Webb on the sidelines after twisting his right knee chasing a high ball.

Dan Biggar secured the victory with a penalty with five minutes left and Guglielmo Palazzani scored a consolation but nobody cared.

Wales: L Halfpenny (M Morgan 69), A Cuthbert (M Morgan 20-26), C Allen, S Williams, G North, D Biggar, R Webb (G Davies 26), G Jenkins (P James 53), K Owens (K Dacey 68), T Francis (A Jarvis 63), J Ball (L Charteris 53), D Day, J King, S Warburton (captain), T Faletau (R Moriarty 63).

Scorers: try – G North; penalties – L Halfpenny (5), D Biggar

Italy: A Masi, L Sarto, L Morisi (L McLean 4), G Garcia, G Venditti, T Allan (C Canna 58), E Gori (G Palazzani 65), M Rizzo (M Aguero 52), L Ghiraldini (A Manici 75), M Castrogiovanni (L Cittadini 40), Q Geldenhuys, J Furno (V Bernano 65), A Zanni, F Minto, S Parisse (captain, S Vunisa 65).

Scorers: tries – L Sarto, G Palazzani; penalties – T Allan (2); drop goal - C Canna

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Attendance: 52,981

Argus star man: Scott Williams