In a heated and emotional match in Rome, Wales dominated in the first half to stretch out a commanding lead. Italy put the first points on the board courtesy of Diego Dominguez yet Wales, strong on the restart, pushed deep into the Italian half. After this impressive burst, and from a five metre ruck, Darren Morris cleared the ball to debutant Gareth Cooper to dive over the line. Jenkins converted.
Dominguez kept Italy in check with a penalty, matched by Jenkins, before increasing Welsh pressure once more turned into a points increase. Off the back of a five metre scrum Scott Quinnell passed the ball to Scott Gibbs to crash over from short range.
Referee Paul Honiss’s afternoon spiralled downhill from this point on as he failed to see Colin Charvis’s trip on Mauro Bergamasco, who would have made a challenge on provider Quinnell had he not been interfered with. Honiss had also failed to appropriately discipline Denis Dallan after a malicious body check on Rhys Williams.
Though both sides traded penalties once more, Italy, aggrieved by the injustice from the referee, ended the half stronger. As the Azzurri found themselves with an overlap, a spilled ball from Bergamasco prevented a certain try score and enabled the visitors to take an eight point lead, 20-12, into the break.
Dominguez dropped a goal seven minutes into the second half to reduce Wales’s advantage to just five points. However, the Italian side became increasingly tetchy and errors and tempers soon heightened. After a dropped goal attempt by Jenkins, Cristian Stoica was caught on the counter and Wales were able to take full advantage of the resultant penalty; Gibbs attained his second try and Jenkins’s conversion took the Welsh into a 27-15 lead.
With handling errors and tempers increasing on both sides the match entered a fraught last ten minute period. Dominguez secured a penalty but more Italian indiscipline saw Jenkins add one of his own to take Wales 30-18 ahead.
With each team losing a man in the dying stages, Stoica for punching and Craig Quinnell for using an elbow in a tackle, Wales were unable to hold off the Italian pressure in the closing minutes. The Azzurri gained a consolatory try after a burst from Bergamasco sent Carlo Checchinato over the Welsh line yet Wales had the last say as Jenkins increased his personal points haul to 18, sending over a penalty to round off the scoreline 33-23.
Wales had won a difficult match at the Stadio Flaminio that sent them into a second placed position in the table after round four of the championship, and also handed the Italians a wooden spoon for the second successive year. As then Wales Team Manager David Pickering commented after the tense victory, “To win in Rome will become increasingly difficult.”
