Wales went into the game on the back of a second successive win in Paris over France, 43-35, where current Wales head coach Rob Howley scored a superb 80 metre try. The Wasps scrum half then missed the trip to Rome through injury, allowing Gareth Cooper to make his debut.
Then 21, Cooper took a mere six minutes to notch one of the fastest debut tries on record to put Wales ahead after Diego Dominguez had shot the Italians in front with an early penalty. It was the first of 46 caps for Cooper, who also played for the 2005 British & Irish Lions.
These days he is the owner of the K2 Gym in Bridgend and even turned out for Pencoed in a WRU National League fixture this season.
HT: 12-18 Att: 25,000
Italy: A Stoica; M Perziano, W Pozzebon (L Martin 80), N Raineri (C Pilat 50), D Dallan; D Dominguez, M Mazzantini; A Lo Cicero (G de Carli 76), A Moscardi (captain), F Properzi Curti (S Perugini 47), A Persico, W Visser, A Gritti (M Zaffiri 63), M Bergamasco, C Checchinato
Yellow Card: A Stoica 72
Scorers: Try: C Checchinato; Pens: D Dominguez 5; DG: D Dominguez
Wales: R Williams; G Thomas, M Taylor (A Bateman 35), S Gibbs, D James; N Jenkins, G Cooper; D Morris, R McBryde, D Young (captain), I Gough (C Quinnell 50), A Moore, C Charvis, M Williams, S Quinnell
Yellow Card: C Quinnell 74
Scorers: Tries: S Gibbs 2, G Cooper; Cons: N Jenkins 3; Pens: N Jenkins 4
Referee: Paul Honnis (New Zealand)
The Italian side to take on Wales at Stadio Olimpico this weekend shows one change in the back-line from the defeat to Tonga in their last game in November – Edoardo Gori taking over at scrum half from Giorgio Bronzini. Up front, only three members of the pack are retained from that game.
Ornel Gega, Lorenzo Cittadini and Marco Fuser are the survivors, while Maxime Mbanda will make an 6 Nations debut. The Italian bench also includes two players set for their Championship debuts in Sami Panico and Bronzini.
There will be plenty of knowledge of the Welsh players with the starting XV containing seven players from PRO12 side Zebre and six from Treviso. The two other players come from TOP 14 clubs, the skipper Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais Paris) and Lorenzo Cittadini (Bayonne).
The starting XV boasts 471 caps, 121 of which belong to Parisse and 53 to Cittadini. Parisse is set to play his 12th game against Wales and is the only player in his matchday squad to have tasted victory.
The world class No 8 is also one of only two players in the Italian starting XV to have scored a try against Wales in the 6 Nations. The other one is centre Luke McLean.
Wales have scored a record eight and then nine tries in their last two 6 Nations outings against the Italians, although there shouldn’t be too many mental scars in the home line-up. Five of the Italian starting XV will be playing against Wales for the first time.
