Italy condemn sloppy Wales to Six Nations wooden spoon

CARDIFF : Italy completed their best Six Nations campaign with a 24-21 win over a desperately poor Wales who scored three late tries in Cardiff on Saturday but slipped to a fifth successive defeat and finished bottom of the standings.

Italy scored tries through winger Monty Ioane and fullback Lorenzo Pani as they won the collisions, were better at the breakdown and overpowered the Welsh scrum in arguably their most accomplished ever Six Nations performance.

Wales’ young squad will lose more experience with retiring stalwart centre George North, who limped off late on, bowing out of test rugby with a demoralising defeat as they crossed for late scores through hooker Elliot Dee, lock Will Rowlands and centre Mason Grady, but were second best on the day.

Italy have two wins and a draw from their five games for the first time in the Six Nations, and 11 points, the most they have managed in a single campaign as their revival under new Argentine coach Gonzalo Quesada gathers momentum.

"It means everything or us," Italy captain Michele Lamaro said. "But we want to achieve more, we have had a good tournament, but we know we can do even better than this.

"We have changed the mindset which we take onto the pitch, we have got lots of confidence. We work for each other. We have been through difficult moments and now we must celebrate these good ones.

"Two games does not define a team, we still have to be a lot more consistent in what we are doing and to be competitive with every team in the competition."

GATLAND QUESTIONS

Warren Gatland’s Wales have now lost 12 of their last 13 Six Nations fixtures and there will inevitably be questions about where he is taking this side despite the retirement of so many experienced players.

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