CARDIFF : Wing Edoardo Padovani scored a late try as Italy stunned their hosts Wales 22-21 to secure a first ever win in Cardiff and end their 36-game losing streak in the Six Nations on Saturday.
A brilliant break from rookie fullback Ange Capuozzo set up the score for Padovani, and when flyhalf Paolo Garbisi kicked the conversion from in front of the posts on the final whistle, Italy had secured their magic moment that left some players in tears.
It was fully deserved, too. They bullied Wales at the breakdown and put in a stout defensive display, something that had been a weakness in recent years, to secure one of the more famous wins in their rugby history and show their continued improvement under coach Kieran Crowley.
Centre Owen Watkin, hooker Dewi Lake and wing Josh Adams scored tries for Wales, who put in a mostly flat performance and missed the chance to celebrate 100 caps for flyhalf Dan Biggar and 150 for lock Alun Wyn Jones in the style they would have wished for.
“It’s just unreal. I couldn’t believe it, I want to stay with my family and teammates and celebrate with them because we deserve it and we worked so hard to get here,” Italy captain Michele Lamaro told reporters.
“It’s the first step of our long process that we just started. Capuozzo is the superstar of our squad right now and that last try was amazing.
“I think just being in the moment until the end took us to the win.”
The pressure will now be squarely on Wales coach Wayne Pivac, who has guided his side to just a single win in five games this season and will have to answer plenty of questions about the direction of his team 18 months out from the next World Cup.
Key to Italy’s win was cutting down their error count, but Wales also failed to put them under pressure for extended periods with a limp attacking display and an over-reliance on the boot of Biggar.
It took the the home side 27 minutes to get their first score as they took the ball through multiple phases, stretching the Italy defence and waiting for the inevitable gaps to appear, one of which Watkin burst through.
They were penalized twice in quick succession at the breakdown, and Garbisi and the bigger boot of Padovani landed both to give the visitors a 12-7 lead at half time.
It was the Welsh who scored next, with Lake diving over from close range after a driving maul, and Adams beat four defenders before dotting down on 68 minutes.
But the home side could not see out the game, and Capuozzo and Padovani combined to win it for the visitors with the last move of the match.
“I don’t know what to say, we weren’t good enough,” Adams said. “I’m just really disappointed we couldn’t get the win for Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Biggar.
“Discipline was one of our big problems. We gave away a lot of penalties in the first and second half.
“We have to respect Italy, they’re a really good team and they deserved to win today.”
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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