Dragons pair Rhodri Jones and Adam Jones each scored as Wales U18s won their second international of the season when they beat their Italian counterparts 29-6 at the Talbot Athletic Ground on Sunday afternoon in a match which saw Dragons’ Rhodri Jones named man of the match.
Following the 27-15 win over France, Wales had to fight harder than the score-line suggests to eventually clinch a four tries to one win over very competitive opponents.
"We were given a thorough test by a very good Italian side" said winning coach Simon King " but we kept our patience and eventually finished in style by running in some fine tries."
"Three tries in ten minutes reflected our good levels of fitness and ability to strike from deep despite being under a bit of pressure."
There was little to choose between the two sides for most of the game.
The bigger and bulkier Italians had the edge in the contact area but the Wales backrow trio of Ed Siggery, David Barry and Tom Young (later Ben Thomas) was quicker to the ball in the loose.
At the line-out Wales were well served by the Ospreys pair of locks Lloyd Peers and Macaulay Cook both of whom also carried the ball well in the loose.
Wales led 8-3 at the break through a penalty by full-back Tom Prydie and a try from flanker Young, son of watching Blues coach Dai Young.
The try was made by a surging run from the very impressive Prydie and finished off by a 20 metre sprint from the ever-present Young.
Italy's only score had been a penalty from fly-half Alberto Bonifazi although Bonifazi and lock Gianmarco Duca missed a further three penalties between them.
The visitors harried Wales into uncharacteristic mistakes and when the fly-half's penalty made it 8-6, there were a lot of anxious faces in the 1,000 crowd.
Wales at last came out of their slumbers with a real vengeance in the last ten minutes, showing a pace and invention that the Italians could not match.
It all started with a try four minutes from normal time by the outstanding Welsh forward, prop Rhodri Jones after a careful build-up by backs and forwards.
With the pack at last getting well behind the Italian gain-line, replacement scrum-half Adam Jones and centre Jack Gadd finished off fine combined moves with tries.
And with Prydie adding three far from easy conversions, the poor Italians looked at the scoreboard in some disbelief.
Wales
WALES U18s
T Prydie (Ospreys); G North (Scarlets), D Ford (Scarlets), J Gadd (Exiles), L Williams (Scarlets) (rep E Walker (Ospreys) 72'); M Morgan (Ospreys), A Davies (Scarlets) (rep A Jones (Dragons) 41'); R Jenkins (Scarlets) (rep L Smout (Blues) 65'), I Davies (Blues) (rep G Harvey (Ospreys) 57') , R Jones (Dragons) (rep W Taylor (Ospreys) 70'), L Peers (Ospreys ) (capt), M Cook (Blues), E Siggery (Scarlets) (rep L Hamilton Scarlets) 65'), D Barry (Blues), T Young (Blues) (rep B Thomas (Ospreys) 41')
Following the 27-15 win over France, Wales had to fight harder than the score-line suggests to eventually clinch a four tries to one win over very competitive opponents.
"We were given a thorough test by a very good Italian side" said winning coach Simon King " but we kept our patience and eventually finished in style by running in some fine tries."
"Three tries in ten minutes reflected our good levels of fitness and ability to strike from deep despite being under a bit of pressure."
There was little to choose between the two sides for most of the game.
The bigger and bulkier Italians had the edge in the contact area but the Wales backrow trio of Ed Siggery, David Barry and Tom Young (later Ben Thomas) was quicker to the ball in the loose.
At the line-out Wales were well served by the Ospreys pair of locks Lloyd Peers and Macaulay Cook both of whom also carried the ball well in the loose.
Wales led 8-3 at the break through a penalty by full-back Tom Prydie and a try from flanker Young, son of watching Blues coach Dai Young.
The try was made by a surging run from the very impressive Prydie and finished off by a 20 metre sprint from the ever-present Young.
Italy's only score had been a penalty from fly-half Alberto Bonifazi although Bonifazi and lock Gianmarco Duca missed a further three penalties between them.
The visitors harried Wales into uncharacteristic mistakes and when the fly-half's penalty made it 8-6, there were a lot of anxious faces in the 1,000 crowd.
Wales at last came out of their slumbers with a real vengeance in the last ten minutes, showing a pace and invention that the Italians could not match.
It all started with a try four minutes from normal time by the outstanding Welsh forward, prop Rhodri Jones after a careful build-up by backs and forwards.
With the pack at last getting well behind the Italian gain-line, replacement scrum-half Adam Jones and centre Jack Gadd finished off fine combined moves with tries.
And with Prydie adding three far from easy conversions, the poor Italians looked at the scoreboard in some disbelief.
Wales
WALES U18s
T Prydie (Ospreys); G North (Scarlets), D Ford (Scarlets), J Gadd (Exiles), L Williams (Scarlets) (rep E Walker (Ospreys) 72'); M Morgan (Ospreys), A Davies (Scarlets) (rep A Jones (Dragons) 41'); R Jenkins (Scarlets) (rep L Smout (Blues) 65'), I Davies (Blues) (rep G Harvey (Ospreys) 57') , R Jones (Dragons) (rep W Taylor (Ospreys) 70'), L Peers (Ospreys ) (capt), M Cook (Blues), E Siggery (Scarlets) (rep L Hamilton Scarlets) 65'), D Barry (Blues), T Young (Blues) (rep B Thomas (Ospreys) 41')
TWEETS BY @DRAGONSRUGBY
