Wales stomp on Italy

Perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise based on this year so far, but Wales v Italy is often uncomfortably (for me at least) close.

Wales are still not a great team, but, a bit like a genuinely great team that plays in red (and black) against a team in blue yesterday, they had a slow start, then clicked into gear and never looked at risk. The adventure, the speed, the effort were there again, with shades of 2005 (grand slam year) peeking through. A fortnight's time will see Wales v Ireland, with Wales aiming for the triple crown. It will be interesting to see how the next match goes, but Wales are looking better and better with each game - and at the moment I'd make them close favourites to win in Croke Park.

Something has to be said about Italy too. Masi is still not an international fly half, but he is improving. The Italian backs suddenly remembered how to handle the ball, how to run, how to pass. If they could all have remembered it at the same time, Italy could easily have scored 2 more tries in the first half, and probably another 2 through the game. Shaun Edwards will be shouting about that on Monday at training I'm sure - but actually they didn't get the passes to hand, Wales survived. I'm reminded of one of those clichés about "great teams find ways to win when not playing well" overall Wales played well today, Italy played pretty well too. But, in the patches where Wales didn't play so well, they still did enough to be in the lead.