Warren Gatland saw Wales given a real scare by Italy and then warned his team of potential embarrassment if they repeat a similar performance against England.
There are both positives and negatives for Gatland to consider; he made 10 changes here and afterwards alluded to the fact that may have been a mistake. Still, Rome was a fine place for Wales to record a remarkable milestone. This was their 11th straight win, one which equals the country’s record dating back to 1910.
Gatland’s men will face England in Cardiff after almost a year unbeaten, still on for a grand slam and with the chance to become statistically the best team in Wales history.
It promises to be some occasion at the Principality Stadium on 23 February. Gatland nonetheless told his men they will have to buck up their ideas before meeting Eddie Jones’ side.
“We came here, did a job and got the win. Now we can start thinking about the next two weeks and being at home against England in a game that could potentially be a championship decider,” Gatland said. “There are lots of things we need to improve. The lineout was a bit concerning.
“We all need to get better and in a lot of areas if we are going to beat England because they are a pretty good side. If we play like that against England it could be embarrassing – but we won’t.”
Gatland was unequivocal in the buildup to the game that he was right to make sweeping changes given the bigger picture of building strength in depth for the World Cup.
But, after an at times patchy and disjointed display here, he said: “I don’t regret anything, but maybe I need to take some criticism for making so many changes which led to us perhaps not having continuity. With another couple of weeks of preparation we will be better.”
In the end, Wales came out on top thanks to second-half tries from Josh Adams and Owen Watkin, while Dan Biggar contributed 14 points. Gatland’s men will now host England looking to make it 12 successive wins.
“We didn’t speak about the record at all this week, but we will probably talk about it before England,” he said. “If this group of players achieve that, it’ll be something nobody can take away from them. There will definitely be no lack of motivation in trying to beat England and break that record.”
Gatland is certainly right that Wales will have to improve for England. Against Italy one of the few positives was the performance of the back-row trio of Aaron Wainwright, Thomas Young and Josh Navidi. The latter was named the official man of the match, but the other two were excellent.
Wales started in decent enough fashion and four penalties from Biggar put them 12-0 up; the only thing missing was a try. One looked certain when Biggar brilliantly collected an Aled Davies box-kick, but new captain Jonathan Davies passed long to Jonah Holmes instead of hitting Liam Williams.
Holmes, hooker Elliot Dee, scrum-half Davies and Watkin were all given an opportunity by Gatland, but it was Wasps ace Young who really took his chance. Still, Wales could not pull clear as they played in fits and starts and Italy scored out of nowhere before the break.
Adams’s awful clearance attempt gave them the platform and Tommaso Allan turned down three points to kick to the corner. From there a series of surges close to the line ended in flanker Braam Steyn being driven over. Allan converted, then struck a post with the last kick of the first half, but made amends with a penalty early in the second.
Finally, Wales woke up. From a scrum, Aled Davies broke down the right and the ball was recycled left. Watkin, Jonathan Davies and Williams were all involved as the latter sent Adams over. Biggar converted and was then immediately replaced by Gareth Anscombe. While it gave Wales some momentum, they still could not break free.
Jonathan Davies kicked ahead and had a try ruled out. Referee Mathieu Raynal consulted his television match official David Grashoff, but had to be given a pair of headphones in order to speak to him. It was amateurish stuff for a Six Nations stage.
“I think there was a breakdown in communication with a technical fault,” said captain Davies. “Unfortunately we did not get the rewards for our good play, but thankfully it did not affect the result.”
In the latter stages Anscombe chipped ahead and Watkin collected for his first Test try. It was one Anscombe improved, before Edoardo Padovani wrapped up the scoring from an Allan pass.
Wales – who emptied their bench – must do better for England and more TMO confusion ended with Young having a score ruled out at the death. Italy, who have now lost 19 Six Nations matches in a row and not won in the competition since 2015, will take heart from the fact they did at least stay in the fight for 80 minutes.
“I take no consolation from the fact we scored the same amount of tries as Wales,” said head coach Conor O’Shea. “We will never give up and keep working to try and achieve success. I am in this for the long haul of Italian rugby.”