Wales 33 Italy 10 (From Western Telegraph)

Wales 33 Italy 10

4:20pm Saturday 20th March 2010 in

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WALES ended their Six Nations on a winning note with a comfortable 33-10 victory against Italy at the Millennium Stadium this afternoon.

Warren Gatland’s side scored three tries and should really have won by more than 23 points.

Wales led 12-0 at the break thanks to a quartet of Stephen Jones penalties, but it could have easily have been more against the limited, but spirited, visitors.

Lee Byrne crossed the whitewash only to be correctly called back for a forward pass by Shane Williams and Wales had plenty of pressure in the Italian 22.

Yet the Azzurri scrambled well and also knew when to infringe and sacrifice three points rather than five or seven.

James Hook was close to crossing for the first try on 48 minutes when he hit the line at speed and was dragged down five yards out, to the fury of coach Shaun Edwards who was angry at the centre’s decision not to straighten and put wing Tom Prydie over in the corner.

But Hook did go over the whitewash two minutes later after Dragons lock Luke Charteris had earned prime field position with a chargedown.

The ball was spun wide from a five-metre scrum and the outside centre went over after good work by scrum-half Mike Phillips and Jones, who then converted for a commanding 19-0 lead.

It was all Wales and the visitors’ cause was not helped by a yellow card for flanker Mauro Bergamasco.

And Hook crossed for his second from the very next play, crashing over from Jones short pass, the fly-half then adding the extras.

A drubbing looked on the cards but Italy rallied and got on the scoresheet with a penalty from wing Mirco Bergamasco on 65 minutes that made it 26-3.

But that only served to kick Wales back into action and wing Shane Williams went over by the sticks after Phillips had been dragged down a yard short after a searing break involving Byrne and replacement centre Ton Shanklin.

Jones, who was named man of the match yet that honour could easily have gone to Bryne, converted with his last touch to make it 33-3 before he was replaced with Hook moving to 10.

Another try came on 74 minutes, yet this time it was the visitors notching seven points. Full-back Luke McLean cut a nice line to wrong-foot the Welsh defence with Mirco Bergamasco adding the extras.

And the remaining minutes were played out as thoughts turned to the summer Tests against the Springboks and All Blacks.