Clinical Wales put Italy away
Wales converted all five of their tries to bounce back from an opening match defeat at the hands of SA Schools. Italy bagged two tries of their own in the eventful match but Wales' stubborn second half defence kept the Italians at bay.
It was a ferocious start to the encounter as three tries were scored in the opening 11 minutes. Wales were first on the board when their attack was rewarded with a Joe Goodchild try. Ben Jones added the extras to hand Wales a 7-0 lead after just two minutes of play.
Italy got themselves on the scoreboard just five minutes later when Marco Manfredi benefitted from a well-executed rolling maul. The try went unconverted to leave them trailing 5-7. Wales hit back with their second try when Harri Dobbs muscled his way over in the 11th minute.
Will Talbot-Davies took over kicking duties to extend his side's lead to 14-5. The tempo of the match slowed from that point and a few unforced errors crept into the game until Wales bagged a third try.
Ryan Conbeer took full advantage of the acres of space he found himself in to get over unopposed. Talbot-Davies' conversion ensured a 21-5 lead after 22 minutes of play. Italy's Massimo Cioffi and Wales' Phil Jones traded penalties in the closing minutes of the half as Wales held a 24-8 lead at the half-time interval.
Italy came out firing in the second half and narrowed the deficit to nine points when Danilo Fischetti used his strength to get over the line. Cioffi added the conversion to trail 15-24 after 43 minutes. However, Wales ensured a 12-point lead when Phil Jones slotted over a 47th-minute penalty.
Wales defended for their lives from that point and their stubbornness on defence led to two late scores through Talbot-Davies and Phil Jones, who converted both tries, to claim the comfortable victory.
Scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Marco Manfredi, Danilo Fischetti
Con: Massimo Cioffi
Pen: Massimo Cioffi
For Wales:
Tries: Joe Goodchild, Harri Dobbs, Ryan Conbeer, Will Talbot-Davies, Phil Jones
Cons: Ben Jones, Will Talbot-Davies 2, Phil Jones 2
Pens: Phil Jones 2
Teams:
Italy: 15 Massimo Cioffi, 14 Ludovico Vaccari, 13 Marco Zanon (captain), 12 Dario Schiabel, 11 Yannick Abanga, 10 Michelangelo Biondelli, 9 Federico Gubana, 8 Nardo Casolari, 7 Lorenzo Masselli, 6 Michele Lamaro, 5 Edoardo Iachizzi, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Giosuè Zilocchi, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Matteo Luccardi, 18 Michele Mancini-Parri, 19 Nicola Pomaro, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Jacopo Bianchi, 22 Giovanni Lucchin, 23 Antonio Rizzi, 24 Niccolò Mori, 25 Giovanni D’Onofrio, 26 Simone Cornelli.
Wales: 15 Will Talbot-Davies, 14 Joe Goodchild, 13 Dylan Moss, 12 Cameron Lewis, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Ben Jones, 9 Owain Leonard, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Will Jones (captain), 6 Joe Thomas, 5 Max Williams, 4 Will Griffiths, 3 Conor Lewis, 2 Jordan Liney, 1 Harri Dobbs.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Carre, 17 Corrie Tarrant, 18 Christian Coleman, 19 Tom Mably, 20 James Ratti, 21 James Botham, 22 Dane Blacker, 23 Phil Jones, 24 Corey Baldwin.
Referee: Ruhan Meiring (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nathan Swartz (South Africa), Sinethemba Mrulwa (South Africa)
TMO: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)