After dominating the opening quarter, and racing into a 14-0 lead, Wales lost their way for much of the rest of the half – and also lost tight head prop Rhodri Jones to the sin-bin. Yet even when they were put under intense pressure by the home side they managed to keep their line intact.
Everything worked well for Wales in those opening 20 minutes. The line-out functioned superbly, the scrum was strong and Josh Turnbull’s opening try came off the back of a powerful, driving scrum.
James Hook added the conversion and then had no problem in providing the extras to a second try from the Cardiff Blues centre Cory Allen in the 18th minute. That score came after Wales had gone through 17 phases and shown wonderful control and combined play.
But when Scarlets front row man Jones was shown a yellow card for not retreating 10 metres at a penalty close to his line the impetus and momentum in the game shifted. Up until then it had been the home side who had been forced to do all the tackling, but for the next 20 minutes Wales had to show off their defensive skills.
They did what was required of them, with and without Jones, and a last gasp penalty before the break from Hook meant it was 17-0 to the tourists at half-time.
There was a blistering start to the second half from Lydiate’s men, with the young Ospreys No 8 Dan Baker once again well to the fore, and two more tries stretched the lead to 29-0 with only 47 minutes on the clock.
An Allen steal in a great midfield tackle set-up the chance for Steve Shingler to chip through with his left foot for Hook to race onto the ball, beat the last line of defence and score a try at the posts that he also converted.
If that was just the start to the second half coach Warren Gatland had wanted, he had more good work to admire from the re-start when his side worked their way from one end of the field to the other to enable Alex Cuthbert to cross in the right corner for a fourth try.
The Kings kept the pace of the game as high as possible and created a number of scoring opportunities. The fat they weren’t able to capitalise on them was down to the strength of the Welsh defence and some inexperience.
They did manage to break their duck just short of the hour when flying right wing Siviwe Soyizwapi crossed after sustained pressure. They also grabbed a close range try at the posts with the last move of the game, when prop Charl du Plessis was driven over and outside half George Whitehead added the conversion.
But there was a fifth try for Welsh fans to savour when Scarlets scrum half Gareth Davies showed off his turn of speed to race clear and brush off a final defender to cross for a try that made up for the disappointment of having an earlier score ruled out for a forward pass.
It proved to be a good exercise for the Welsh squad and Warren Gatland will have been delighted to see Lydiate come through his fitness test, Cuthbert score a try and Matthew Morgan show off all his attacking skills from full back.
