Wales v Italy: Five takeaways from the Six Nations clash as ‘brilliant’ Azzurri partnership steal the show

Following a 24-21 win for Italy over Wales in their Six Nations game at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, here’s our five takeaways from Saturday’s clash.

The top line

It’s finally gone, the Wooden Spoon is no longer in Italy‘s hands as they throw over the unwanted baton to Wales after holding onto it since way back in 2015.

No one will argue it is not deserved as the Azzurri were much the better side on Welsh soil as they made it back-to-back wins in Cardiff after that 2022 thriller.

To a man they were excellent as they finish the 2024 Six Nations campaign with an impressive record of two wins, one draw and two losses – and it could have been even better had Paolo Garbisi’s kicking tee not malfunctioned against France. These are hugely encouraging results in Gonzalo Quesada’s first year in charge.

For Wales their woes are hard to ignore as five losses out of five leave Warren Gatland and his coaching team with a real job on their hands. New eras are never smooth sailing but this has been especially difficult and there are stern tests to come this year, with the Springboks and Wallabies lying in wait in June and July.

Centres of attention

For a team written off so harshly during the World Cup, and rightly so after some of the hammerings they received, watching the Italian Class of 2024 is a wonderful experience. Steered by the surety of Garbisi at 10 and with gas to burn in their backline, the glue of their team is one of the most balanced centre partnerships in Test rugby, Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex.

They’re a perfect blend; the rumbustious impudence of the youngster Menoncello and the huge rugby intellect and relentless workrate of Brex on the outside. Together, they combined to completely ruin the George North send-off, where neither he nor Nick Tompkins got a moment to breathe. Brex snared yet another player of the match award in a game where he carried eight times, including igniting the move with an offload for the wonderful Lorenzo Pani try, and on the other side of the ball, making four tackles and gathering another couple of turnovers whilst skippering the Italian defensive live into a suffocating cloak that took the life away from the Welsh midfield.

Italy player ratings: Juan Ignacio Brex spearheads memorable Cardiff win to avoid Wooden Spoon

For Wales, bluntly they didn’t have anything close to the structure, continuity and effectiveness of the Azzurri centres and whilst North battled like the warrior he is, carrying tirelessly until the last moment when he was assisted off the pitch, it was an absolute lesson in organisation and rugby intelligence from the brilliant Italian partnership, arguably the most effective of this year’s tournament.

Welsh errors

In stark contrast to that well oiled Italian three-quarter line, the litany of basic rugby errors that came from the hosts was quite remarkable. Simple handling skills let them down; miscommunication in the backfield saw comedy moments under the high ball and up front, they were smashed in the scrum and absolutely beaten up on the gainline.

One of the biggest issues Wales are suffering from is the amount of players that look to steal for the glory jackal. Put simply, they are completely under-resourcing the collision and the ruck and this is costing them in every game they play.

Tommy Reffell’s work in that area is an absolute given and any coach or skipper worth his salt lets Reffell just do his thing. But when you have three or four others continually looking for the grab rather than the smash, the momentum you can concede to the opposition in the collision is huge, and the ball they get as a result is on a plate without physical challenge.

Until Wales sort out their collision work, organisation in defence and complete basic skill tasks the slump they’re suffering will get worse. It starts by acknowledging the issues and concentrating on delivering the simple stuff of rugby, something unusually lacking from this Welsh side.

Pack grows

At the start of the 2024 Six Nations, Italy struggled to get enough front-foot ball from their pack to feed the brilliant backline they possess. There were mutterings of ‘wish they had the pack of the 2000s and the backs of now’ and so on. But as the tournament has progressed, so steel has returned into the Italian forwards, led by the tireless skipper Michele Lamaro and supported with the percussive and powerful running of the returing Seb Negri, a key player who was absent in the early stages.

But it’s not all about the back-row; their lineout is sure as any, with Federico Ruzza’s ball supply known to many that play Fantasy Rugby and at the coalface their front-row has really come on leaps and bounds. Hooker Giacomo Nicotera has been an absolute revelation, scrumming hard and deep as any, and offering a real nuisance over the ball to become almost a second back-rower in his disruptive work.

Today was all about Nicotera’s partner on the loosehead, where Danilo Fischetti had yet another dominant display in every aspect. Three scrum penalties went the way of the former London Irish prop and yet again his cheek with ball in hand showed that under that bulk there’s a real athlete who loves carrying and passing with the best of them.

If Italy’s forwards can stand up and win the little battles that eluded them in the first two rounds, then the sky is the limit for this emerging team, 23 players who have finally answered the age old question about their Six Nations value with emphatic evidence.

Historically poor Welsh campaign, Italy finally delivering on promise

The Welsh can be pessimistic at the best of times but there was little hope for Gatland’s side when he announced a callow squad for the 2024 Six Nations, any expectation of a title-challenging campaign went right out the window. Even so, few would have expected a campaign this torrid.

Wales player ratings: Tomos Williams best of a bad bunch in humiliating defeat to Italy

Not once across their five games were Wales able to string together a strong showing for more than one half with promising signs against Scotland and England, but the campaign came undone against Ireland, and it just got worse today. While they fronted up against France for about an hour, they were never really in the game against Italy, and the scoreline flatters them thanks to two late scores.

Their performances have led to their first Wooden Spoon in 21 years, Gatland’s first defeat to Italy and with the Welsh Rugby Union planning to slash budgets for next season and more top talents leaving the regions, the future looks uncertain for Welsh rugby.

It’s an unprecedentedly poor campaign under Gatland’s tutelage not aided by a host of injuries, retirements and unavailabilities; he is set to remain in the job. With the retirement of George North following the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Josh Navidi, Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Biggar and others, it is perhaps the biggest rebuild job since the game went professional and Gatland is arguably the best-suited to get the job done, but that won’t stop the knives from coming out.

Meanwhile, Quesada has had an immediate impact on the Azzurri building on the foundations his predecessors Franco Smith and Kieran Crowley laid. The Argentine has turned this team into a confident set of players, arming them with an improved kicking game with the defensive systems stepping up a notch, too. The width of the post denied them an even higher placing in this Six Nations, but with more talented players making the step up to the international stage, the future looks bright.

Quesada has done a remarkable job with this side since taking the job, with the squad remaining largely the same as the one that got hammered by France and New Zealand during the World Cup last year. Outside of their poor performance against Ireland, Italy were in with a chance of winning their remaining games, and if they continue on this trajectory, the calls for their culling from the tournament will finally be put to bed.

READ MORE: Italy repeat Cardiff heroics as Wales handed Wooden Spoon after woeful Six Nations