When Wayne Pivac woke up Saturday morning he would have wanted a victory. He would have wished for a bonus-point success and, in a dream world, he would have hoped for a hammering of Italy which would make a statement to the rest of the Six Nations. He got all three!
It has to be said the Azzurri were awful, but Wayne won’t give a jot about that right now. He had a decent enough start as head coach in the win over the Barbarians in November, but this was different. This was Championship rugby, the first game of the tournament, and a home game in Cardiff in front of a very good crowd. It couldn’t really have gone much better for Wales.
I was delighted at what I saw – particularly in the first half. Wales built a lead through the boot of Dan Biggar as they made the most of Italy’s poor discipline before cutting loose to record a crucial bonus point. It helped them send a message to the rest of the tournament and it was a big one.
When you analyse that Welsh performance the first thing is to say how impressive it is to have kept Italy scoreless. I thought the Azzurri were at best average. They had a couple of moments at scrum time and were tough to break down in the third quarter, but that was about it.
Even though Wales didn’t face stiff opposition, it is still a fine achievement to nil a team and it represented a good start for Byron Hayward as Wales defence coach.
To be succeeding Shaun Edwards is close to mission impossible, so to keep a clean sheet will be a huge boost ahead of Ireland on Saturday.
We’ve heard a lot from Wayne and Stephen Jones about how Wales plan to evolve their attacking game and I thought we saw some very promising initial signs of that.
Josh Adams – yet again – was the main man. What a time he’s having at the moment! Since he burst on to the scene his career has only gone one way. He was top try-scorer at the World Cup with seven and is definitely one of the best wings around right now. His finish for the first try was brilliant and his second wasn’t easy either after Dan Biggar’s through-the-legs pass. How good was that?
Dan’s pass summed up the confidence he is playing with at the moment. He’s at the top of his game right now.
Josh’s first two tries were typical wing efforts, but what I liked most was his third try. Wales had already secured a bonus point with just a few minutes to go and it would have been easy for Josh to stay out wide and be happy with two tries. He showed his hunger to go close to the ruck and grab a third from close range. That’s the mark of a world-class back.
Dan, Justin Tipuric, Tomos Williams and Leigh Halfpenny all stood out for me, but the one player I want to talk about in detail is Nick Tompkins.
A couple of weeks ago we didn’t even know Tompkins was Welsh. Now he’s ripping it up! Yes it was only one game, but against Italy the Saracens man looked every inch a Test star in the making.
He actually had two goes at a debut! First he came on as a head injury replacement for Johnny McNicholl and in his brief, initial stay on the pitch he won a crucial turnover and then gave an inch perfect pass to Leigh which led to Josh’s first try.
They were simple yet classy moments. When Tompkins then returned to the field in the second half as a replacement for Hadleigh Parkes he was arguably even better. His try was a superb finish.
Tompkins was the biggest positive of the afternoon for me and I think he may well be the answer to the centre predicament Wales have at the moment with Jonathan Davies out injured.
I would start Tompkins against Ireland on Saturday. That might seem a big call, but to me he looks ready for the occasion. Ireland, of course, will be a huge step up and everyone in the Wales camp will know that. There is work still to be done, but in Tompkins’ case I’d promote him from the bench.
As a player you just want to get out there as soon as possible after a game like that. Tompkins’ confidence will be through the roof after that Italy game and Wales need to make the most of that.
The question is who does he come in for? I thought George North did well at outside centre.
He defended very well – even though Italy offered little in attack – and came up with the crucial bonus-point try. Wales have an embarrassment of riches now but I think Tompkins could come in at 13 against Ireland with George returning to the wing and Johnny McNicholl dropping out.
That would certainly be harsh on Johnny who did nothing wrong and even took a heavy whack to the head for his troubles, but I don’t think you can ignore a player like Tompkins for long.
What is exciting for Wales is how much he – and the team – can improve. The first game of any Six Nations is all about trying out new combinations and getting used to tournament rugby.
In the first half Wales produced a clinical and organised attacking game which they replicated in the final quarter. The start of the second half wasn’t great with too many errors while there was also a bit of a concern over the scrum. I thought Wyn Jones and Dillon Lewis could have gone better.
Ireland will be licking their lips over the Welsh scrum and I’m sure they will target us there. I know he’s an international rookie, but I’d consider someone like WillGriff John for the trip to Dublin.
I don’t know how he’s been going in training and he wasn’t in the squad for Italy, but he is a very strong scrummager and I think he’d be perfect for the Aviva Stadium.
Wales will have to go to the next level there, but they can win because they now have something crucial coursing through their veins – confidence and momentum.
At the highest level of rugby those things are crucial and Wales have it in abundance, especially after their Grand Slam and Triple Crown last year and their fourth-placed finish at the World Cup in Japan.
Now the real tests begin to come with Ireland away followed by France and England. It will be after those games that we know the real Wayne Pivac’s Wales, but for now you have to sit back and quietly applaud the start the new head coach has made to Test rugby.
