by David Nicholson
at Parc y Scarlets

WALES eventually shrugged off a battling Italy to take victory in the fifth-place play-off at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.

A relieved Wales coach Wayne Pivac will owe his old-stagers after this victory, with both backrowers Justin Tipuric and Toby Faletau playing out of their skins.

Man of the match Faletau had several breaks as his intelligent hands and impressive side steps set-up tries including an important second-half try for Tipuric.

Wales roared into a 14-0 lead after two tries for Kieran Hardy and Sam Parry in the opening 15 minutes.

It looked as though Wales would be out of sight by half-time but Italy are made of sterner stuff these days and fought back.

Despite the Welsh bright start the Azzurri kept their heads and fought back with two penalties and a well-taken try by centre Marco Zanon, after Carlo Canna threaded threw a beautiful chip kick to outwit Wales’ defensive line.

An error-strewn first half saw both sides struggling with their set piece, losing shaky line-outs.

Wales were also penalised eight times at the breakdown, which meant they were losing momentum against an Italian side used to living off scraps.

In a dagger blow, Wales lost full-back Liam Williams to injury who had looked in sharp form.

Worse was to come for Wales as winger Josh Adams was shown the yellow card on the stroke of half-time by referee Wayne Barnes, who had clearly tired of Wales’ multiple transgressions at the breakdown.

The Azzurri were one point behind at half-time and moved into the lead with a well-taken try by flanker Johan Meyer, capitalising on their one-man advantage as Adams cooled his heels in the sin bin.

The returning George North scored his 41st try for Wales and looked comfortable in his new position in the centre.

The last time these two sides met was in the Six Nations when Wales ran out 42-0, but Pivac’s side have since lost seven of their eight Test matches.

A thoughtful Pivac said: “It wasn’t the 80-minute performance we were after, but we are heading in the right direction.

“We asked some questions of the players and got some answers so that’s what we wanted to get out of the game as well as a good result.

“We conceded too many penalties which allowed them back into the game.

“I thought Toby Faletau was outstanding today. He had a strong game and Justin Tipuric back from his head knock went well.

“What we’ve got to do now is settle the squad for the Six Nations and look to be more consistent in what we do with the selections and performances.”