WARREN Gatland believed his Wales side had done all they could to put pressure on Ireland and England in the race to win the RBS 6 Nations title, even though in the end it proved to be not quite enough.
Wales ran riot in the Rome sunshine to beat Italy, scoring 47 unanswered second-half points before Leonardo Sarto's last-minute try trimmed the margin of victory slightly.
So Ireland started their game in Scotland needing to make 20 points up on Wales, but unfortunately for Gatland and his team, Ireland were ruthless at Murrayfield, running out 40-10 winners which moved them top of the Six Nations standings on points difference and left England needing to beat France by 26 points at Twickenham for them to claim the title.
"We spoke at half time about being accurate and we've given ourselves a shot," said Gatland straight after their match.
Wales struggled to find any momentum in a poor first-half performance and only led 14-13 at the break with one solitary try from Jamie Roberts. But they were a different side in the second half with Liam Williams' try preceding an 11-minute hat-trick from George North and further scores from Rhys Webb, skipper Sam Warburton and replacement Scott Williams. Full-back Leigh Halfpenny kicked two penalties before going off injured, but fly-half Dan Biggar proved a capable deputy, slotting a penalty and six conversions.
Italy scored an early Giovambattista Venditti try and a late Leonardo Sarto touchdown, with Kelly Haimona kicking a penalty and substitute Luciano Orquera adding a penalty and two conversions, but the Azzurri were ultimately horribly outclassed.
"We knew sitting in the box if we scored a couple of tries to get ahead of them we would break their spirit," Gatland said.
"It was a great second half performance and the biggest away win for Wales in the Six Nations is another milestone for these guys.
"I'm a little bit gutted about that last try but you can't question the performance, effort and commitment of the boys. We dug in there and 60 points is not bad.
"We've always said as a squad we get better the more time we spend together and I think we've improved as the tournament has gone on. We can look forward to the World Cup now and we know we're in such a tough group. But if we've got the players fit and available we're good enough to come out of that group and even win the World Cup."
Wales arrived in Rome knowing that an emphatic victory was their likely requirement to keep the pressure on their title rivals.
But it was a scrappy opening, with Haimona, who went off injured after only five minutes, and Orquera kicking penalties for Italy while Halfpenny converted two Wales penalties.
Centre Roberts scored the first Welsh try, winger Venditti replied for Italy before Biggar's penalty gave the Welsh a one-point half-time lead. In between, the prolific Halfpenny went off after suffering nasty blow to the head.
Both sides were unrecognisable after the break as the Welsh silenced the boisterous Italian support with a ruthless display of rugby. Liam Williams opened the floodgates when he slipped through a gap in the Italian backline before a rampaging North scored his hat-trick of tries.
Italy, meanwhile, lost their discipline as Andrea Masi and Quintin Geldenhuys were sent to the sin- bin. As the onslaught continued, scrum-half Webb forced his way through half-hearted tackling for another try before captain Warburton out-paced the Italian back line for their sixth try of the half. Scott Williams completed the Welsh scoringafter Jonathan Davies surged clear
Italy: McLean, Sarto, Morisi, Masi, Venditti, Haimona, Gori, Rizzo, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Biagi, Furno, Minto, Bergamasco, Vunisa. Replacements: Bacchin for Morisi (77), Orquera for Haimona (4), Palazzani for Gori (77), De Marchi for Rizzo (52), Manici for Ghiraldini (52), Chistolini for Castrogiovanni (52),
Geldenhuys for Biagi (53). Sin Bin: Masi (55), Geldenhuys (65).
Wales: Halfpenny, North, J. Davies, Roberts, L. Williams, Biggar, Webb, R. Evans, Baldwin, Jarvis, Charteris, Jones, Lydiate, Warburton, Faletau.
Replacements: S. Williams for Halfpenny (33),
Priestland for L. Williams (74), G. Davies for Webb (71), Gill for R. Evans (53), Owens for Baldwin (55),
Andrews for Jarvis (76), Ball for Charteris (76),
Tipuric for Lydiate (55).
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article