THE Six Nations will be the talk of Tbilisi after Wales provided more ammunition for Georgia with a ludicrously easy 67-14 romp against a woeful Italy.

Warren Gatland’s men thrashed the Azzurri 60-21 in Rome 12 months earlier when chasing the title but eclipsed that total to set a new national record in the tournament despite only having the motivation of securing second place.

They crossed for nine tries in an encounter in Cardiff that was always going to be bizarre after the loss to Grand Slam-chasing England at Twickenham. The only surprise was that it took until the 69th minute for a Mexican wave at Principality Stadium.

It was a predictably one-sided game and, after Ireland dished out a nine-try drubbing to the Italians in round four, the manner of Wales’ success will prompt more questions about the tournament being a closed shop.

Earlier on Saturday Georgia beat Romania 38-9 in front of 50,000 in Tbilisi to lift the European Nations Cup; the mechanism surely has to be included to at least provide the second tier with a shootout against the bottom side of the Six Nations.

That’s for the future while next up for Wales is a three-Test tour of New Zealand and Gatland had talked pre-match about using the Italy game as a “stepping stone” for the summer.

The Azzurri denied them that opportunity; the level of their performance won’t even match the midweek clash with the Chiefs let alone the world champions.

While wing George North and centre Jamie Roberts finished their excellent personal campaigns off in style and replacement back rower Ross Moriarty had a stormer, some of Wales’ tries were scored with alarming ease and it wouldn’t be prudent to read too much into events.

That being said, it was nice to see Gatland's men cut loose at the end of a frustrating tournament to set up what will be tighter tussles in Dublin and Paris in the triple-header.

Wales enjoyed the perfect start with Italy making a mess of a Dan Biggar chip over the top to gift a five-metre lineout that they drove toward the line.

The ball was dropped but scrum-half Rhys Webb, on his first Test start since the September ankle injury suffered against the Azzurri that crushed his World Cup dreams, dummied and exploited some weak defence for a fifth-minute try that Biggar converted.

It was an open start with Wales offloading more than they have in recent history – they went on to make nine in the first half – but it was another Italian error that allowed them to stretch their lead, a loose pass putting talisman Sergio Parisse under pressure and forcing him to hold on, an offence that Biggar punished for 10-0 after 15 minutes.

That penalty had been won by openside Justin Tipuric but the Ospreys flanker was soon led off the pitch after suffering a head injury when dropped by his lifters at a lineout with Moriarty replacing him for a Six Nations debut.

It didn’t disrupt Wales’ flow.

Italy’s ability to shoot themselves in the foot continued with full-back David Odiete conceding a needless five-metre scrum by fielding a ball that was heading to touch before scrum-half Guglielmo Palazzani was sin-binned for preventing Webb from going quickly.

They held firm from the following scrum but were offside in midfield to allow Biggar to add three more points as Wales wisely went for the scoreboard pressure approach.

They were, however, making too many errors in attack with their skills under pressure failing to convince despite their healthy lead entering the second quarter.

Wales were looking to get in the wide channels but not looking entirely comfortable doing so.

But they did move even further away on the half hour thanks to some embarrassing defence by the visitors when Biggar burst through midfield, played a ‘one-two’ with centre Roberts and cantered under the sticks before converting.

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It was soon 27-0 with Wales striking despite Hallam Amos failing to gather an up and under cleanly inside his 22, the ball recycled and moved to the right for North to go on the charge and put centre Jonathan Davies over.

That was how it stayed as they headed to the changing rooms after a half in which Gatland’s side had failed to hit the heights but were still cantering to victory.

They were straight on the front foot after the resumption, piling on the pressure in the 22 before the ball was spread right for North to put Roberts over with a nice offload out of the back of the hand.

The giant winger was soon over himself with a move off quick lineout ball, slicing through a gaping hole in midfield before wonderfully weaving past last man Luke McLean.

Italy finally got on the scoreboard after 53 minutes through their driving lineout with scrum-half Palazzani joining his pack to dot down, Kelly Haimona’s conversion making it 39-7.

Wales, however, were straight back down the other end with Liam Williams crossing from Roberts’ pass after being shifted to the left wing in place of the unlucky Hallam Amos, who had barely been given a chance with ball in hand.

Biggar converted superbly for 46-7 but defence coach Shaun Edwards would have been quietly fuming when centre Gonzalo Garcia went over for Italy’s second.

Wales were past the half-century when Moriarty crashed over from a driving lineout, replacement fly-half Rhys Priestland mirroring Biggar’s effort from wide left, and the Gloucester man went over again from a quick tap in the last minute seconds after Odiete had thought he had provided Italy with the final say by intercepting Roberts inside the 22.

The clock went red but there was still time for Wales to twist the knife with a length of the field move ending in a ninth score by scrum-half Gareth Davies.

Gatland’s team ended with smiles on their faces, leaving Italy to face awkward questions.

Wales: L Williams, G North, J Davies, J Roberts, H Amos (G Anscombe 48), D Biggar (R Priestland 58), R Webb (G Davies 63), R Evans (G Jenkins 50), S Baldwin (K Owens 50), S Lee (A Jarvis 58), B Davies (J Ball 58), L Charteris, D Lydiate (captain), J Tipuric (R Moriarty 16), T Faletau.

Scorers: tries – R Webb, D Biggar, J Davies, J Roberts, G North, L Williams, R Moriarty (2), G Davies; conversions – D Biggar (5), R Priestland (3); penalties – D Biggar (2)

Italy: D Odiete, L Sarto, A Pratichetti (K Haimona 35), G Garcia, M Bellini (L McLean 33), T Allan, G Palazzani (A Lucchese 64), A Lovotti (M Zanusso 64), D Giazzon (O Fabiani 46), M Castrogiovanni (D Chistolini 46), Q Geldenhuys, V Bernardo (J Sarto 46), F Minto, S Parisse (captain), A Zanni. Replacements: O Fabiani, M Zanusso, D Chistolini, J Sarto, A Steyn, A Lucchese, K Haimona, L McLean

Scorers: tries – G Palazzani, G Garcia; conversions – K Haimona (2)

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Attendance: 74,160

Argus star man: George North