Five takeaways from Wales v Italy

Adam Kyriacou

Following a 42-0 victory for Wales over Italy in their Six Nations clash, here’s our five takeaways from the game at the Principality Stadium.

Wayne Pivac era off to excellent start: His coaching reputation and recent work at the Scarlets meant there were only positive words written and said about Pivac before he took over from Warren Gatland in the Welsh hot seat. 21-0 in front at half-time thanks to two Josh Adams tries and the boot of Dan Biggar, Wales were ruthless in possession and displayed confidence in how their new head coach is wanting them to play the game. Further tries from Nick Tompkins, George North and Adams put the seal on a perfect opening day at the office for Pivac, who has the foundations to build something special with this team. Judging from this, they’re on the right track.

Franco Smith has a massive job on his hands: While Pivac has a solid base from which to work from, given that this squad is effectively the one which reached the World Cup semi-finals just three months ago, Smith does not have that luxury. It was another abysmal performance from the Italians, who lacked any sort of creativity in their attack and made a plethora of mistakes throughout the contest. There are some good individual players in this team, including their back-row trio and impressive youngster Niccolo Cannone, but they lack direction, which has been their problem since they entered the Six Nations. Another tough campaign looks to be on the cards.

Josh Adams is a born finisher: 2019 was outstanding from a personal viewpoint and it looks like Adams is not resting on his laurels in 2020 as he kicked off the international year with three tries. Some players just have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, with Adams certainly in that bracket. That’s not to say he has an easy task running in all these scores as he works tirelessly before being in possession and also with the ball, with Italy unable to contain the Welsh finisher supreme. Adams, and Wales, are off and running in real style.

England’s loss is Wales’ gain: It was one of the major talking points when the Welsh squad was announced as Saracens’ Tompkins, born and raised in England, was selected by Pivac to represent his side. After being named on the bench, Tompkins twice came on – the first only brief following a HIA for Johnny McNicholl – and showed his quality with ball in hand on both occasions. He helped set up their first try with a long pass to full-back Leigh Halfpenny before the classy centre weaved his way over the try-line for a fine individual effort in the second period. It was a hugely impressive debut from Tompkins but, for those that have seen him play regularly in the Premiership and Champions Cup, it is not a surprise and England may well regret not getting him tied down.

Michael excellent on the mic: Off the pitch but we felt this was a worthy mention from the Wales v Italy match. Cheika was a studio guest for BBC Sport before kick-off and became the co-commentator during the action, to great success we might add. We have become so used to the Australian being frustrated when talking to the media as Wallabies coach but now free of those responsibilities and pressure, he was excellent as a pundit on Saturday. Cheika, having been involved in the game so recently, offered a huge amount of insight into player’s and team’s strengths and we look forward to more of the same from him as this year’s tournament plays out.

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