All in all, the last of Wales’ Summer Internationals this afternoon didn’t work out as planned. Serious looking injuries to two of Wales’ top performers in Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny, a performance that seemed half hearted following last week’s much improved display and the 23-19 scoreline meant that there was no happy send-off.
Throughout the week, Warren Gatland had spent some time turning the spotlight away from his own team. Some of the things he said were worrying, especially in light of today’s result. His assertion that tries only happened as a result of opponent’s “system errors” showed something of a negative mind-set.
Also, his attempts at ratcheting up the pressure on Ireland and England, seemingly forgetting that Wales had their own game to play this weekend, seemed to have backfired. Considering this team wasn’t far short of Wales’ strongest, it didn’t seem they had an awful lot to offer.
Once Wales conceded an early try, following an interception from Parisse in his own half, Italy seemed the only side wanting to win this game. There was little in the way of meaningful, sustained pressure. With the exception of George North’s try soon after that Italian one Wales strike runners weren’t involved much in the game. There were very few periods of play where Wales were able to go through the phases and test the Italian defence. The lineout was a little shaky again, and so was the scrum.
So were Wales really wanting to play within themselves and save themselves from injury? Can we really expect to believe that Gatland sent out another underprepared side to just go through the motions, expecting an easy victory?
It seemed to the casual observer, that both those things were true, but neither are easy to believe. It’s entirely possible that these players didn’t want to get injured so close to the tournament. But going into any International match without full commitment is always a dangerous game to play.
It was very hard to understand why this performance lacked any real spark. All credit must go to Italy for the commitment they showed. It was expected in some areas that this would be little more than a training session for Wales, but as usual when Wales enter a game as favourites, especially against one of the lower ranked Nations, things didn’t work out that way at all.
The day brought a Wales win then, but their performance left a lot to be desired. And this is a worry for them as they move into the World Cup. They must perform, and because they haven’t really tested some of the fringe players in the squad to any great degree, many of their top players will be involved more than they would want.
The results this weekend shouldn’t really have a huge impact come September 18th. But by not putting Italy away, and with England winning there has been another momentum shift, but that doesn’t mean anything is won or lost yet. Wales will return to the Vale Hotel and assess what went wrong here and hope they are able to rectify what went wrong.
There are worries of course, but there still plenty of reasons to be positive. Ultimately, today was just another at the office. England kick-off the real thing on the 18th and a whole different set of pressures will be exerted. Who deals with them the best will be the team that comes out on top.
Wales: L Halfpenny (M Morgan 69) A Cuthbert, 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) J Ball (L Charteris 53) D Day J King S Warburton (c) T Faletau (R Moriarty 64)
Scorers
Try – G North: Pes L Halfpenny (5) D Biggar
Italy
A Masi L Sarto L Morisi G Garcia (G Palazzani 65) G Venditti T Allan (C Canna 58) E Gori M Rizzo (M Aguero 52) L Ghiraldini (A Manici 75) M Castrogiovanni (L Cittadini 40) Q Geldenhuys J Furno (V Burnabo) A Zanni F Minto S Parisse (c) (S Vunisa 65)
Scorers
Tries – L Sarto G Palazanni Pens – T Allen (2) D-Goal C Canna
Main Photo
