Burnell had made nine changes to the side which clinched the Triple Crown in Dublin and it took time for the new side to settle. They were on level terms at 13-13 at half time before they stretched away with three tries into a 32-13 lead. Rhys Priestland gave the home team the perfect start with a penalty in the first minute, but a try by backrow man Mauro Cristiano, converted by Davide Duca gave the visitors a shock lead.
No.8 Duca added a penalty to make it 10-3 before Dragons centre Gareth Maule crashed over for the first home try after 10 minutes. Duca kicked his second penalty soon after but Dragons No.8 Lewis Evans levelled the scores with a try after 23 minutes.
The second half was virtually one way traffic until the end and Scarlets wing Martyn Thomas grabbed the limelight with two tries that Priestland converted to take the Welsh side well into the lead. Fellow Scarlet wing Alec Jenkins extended the lead with Wales’s fifth try, but the Italians responded with their second try on the stroke of time to restore some pride when hooker Nicola Gatto crashed over. If it wasn’t the perfect performance in front of a crowd of 1,500 it still had coach Burnell bursting with pride.
“We didn’t put in the perfect performance, but we still scored five tries with a team that showed nine changes form our last game,” said Burnell. “Some people don’t give the Italians the credit they deserve you can not take them for granted, and this certainly wasn’t an easy win.
“To score that many tries having made that many changes is a tribute to this squad. I just hope we can have as many people turn up for our Grand-Slam challenge against France next week.”
Scorers:
Wales U19: 32
Tries: M Thomas 2 G Maule, L Evans, A Jenkins
Cons: R Priestland 2
Pen: R Priestland
Italy U19: 18
Tries: M Christiano, N Gatto
Con: D Duca
Pen: D Duca 2
