Six Nations: Wales 24 - 3 Italy: Welsh inch close to title

The World Cup semi-finalists will effectively put one hand on Six Nations silverware today, given their vastly-superior points difference, if England beat Les Bleus in Paris.

But the real party is planned for Saturday when Wales aim to be crowned kings of Europe.

Wales coach Warren Gatland admitted the Grand Slam was now on. “You’ve got a chance, you’re at home,” he said. “I think next week we’ll try and keep our heads down and try not to do too much. If we do achieve a Grand Slam it will be pretty special.”

Gatland said the players were “flat” after yesterday’s win. “I thought we played some great rugby in the first half,” he said. “The man with the whistle didn’t make it easy for us, I thought he was pedantic. That was a little bit frustrating. But the boys tried really hard and at the end of the day we’re four from four.

“The boys are a bit flat in the dressing room. I thought they really wanted to score some points today and didn’t really get a chance.”

Wales’ coaching team had stressed the need for a dominant opening 20 minutes, and immediate signs looked good when juggernaut wings George North and Alex Cuthbert both enjoyed defence-splitting midfield runs. But after missing a number of early tackles, Italy showed signs of settling under Sergio Parisse’s assured leadership, and Wales were restricted to a long-range Leigh Halfpenny penalty that Mirco Bergamasco cancelled out just two minutes later.

The visitors, though, found themselves living off scraps of possession, and what meaningful ball they did secure was immediately kicked back to Wales by fly-half Kristopher Burton.

A second Halfpenny penalty – he reached 50 points in the tournament as a result – edged Wales back in front, and they continued their siege of Italy’s 22.

But a combination of superb Italian defence and occasional over-eagerness by Welsh attackers meant the Azzurri restricted their opponents to one more Halfpenny penalty as a tryless opening period ended 9-3 in Wales’ favour. And the most telling statistic came via a punishing tackle-count that saw Italy make 76 challenges compared with Wales’ 14.

Wales huffed and puffed for ten minutes after the break, yet they finally breached Italy’s defence when Rhys Priestland found Jamie Roberts, whose angled 40-metre run took him clear and over for a try that Halfpenny converted.

Halfpenny then spent ten minutes off the field, sin-binned by referee George Clancy for an aerial challenge on Parisse when he had clearly gone for the ball and not the opposition player.

Wales, though, still had time to make their overwhelming territorial control and wealth of possession count as substitutes Ken Owens and Luke Charteris arrived for the final quarter.

But with the job done at 16-3 ahead, Gatland continued to sensibly use his substitutes, sending on Ryan Jones, Paul James, Twickenham try hero Scott Williams and scrum-half Rhys Webb for his Test debut.

Priestland slotted a 70th-minute penalty that left the Italians 16 points adrift, and then strong-running Cuthbert added a second try two minutes from time.