Wales 66 Romania 7

Tom Shanklin crossed over four times as Wales routed Romania 66-7 in Cardiff ― equalling the Welsh record for individual tries in an international.

Shanklin opened the scoring, throwing a subtle dummy to touch down in the fifth minute before adding one more before the break and two in the second half.

Rhys Williams, Gethin Jenkins, Gavin Henson, Stephen Jones, Dafydd Jones and Gareth Cooper also grabbed tries.

Stephen Jones kicked seven conversions and substitute Ceri Sweeney got one.

Romania gained their consolation try just before half-time from Paris-based scrum-half Lucian Sirbu.

His touchdown was converted by fly-half Ionut Tofan, but it meant little as the visitors could not come close to staving off a sixth successive defeat against the hosts.

Wales took the field in their new change strip of white shirts and black shorts with green trimmings, and they were determined to make an immediate impact.

Lock Luke Charteris made a strong early run into the opposition's midfield, and Wales continued to threaten, with skipper Gareth Thomas only being hauled down courtesy of a desperate ankle-tap tackle.

But the visitors could only keep Wales out for so long and Shanklin, who ended the night having matched the individual scoring exploits of past Welshmen such as Maurice Richards, Ieuan Evans and Glen Webbe, wasted little time in grabbing the seventh international try of his career.

Fly-half Stephen Jones slotted the angled conversion, and Wales were on their way.

The home side struck again on 16 minutes when an exquisite inside pass from Henson sent Williams dashing 30 metres to cross the line.

Jones' conversion made it 14-0, and Wales moved further away when the fly-half ghosted clear and touched down near the posts and then duly converted.

Attacking threat

Romania could offer little in terms of an attacking threat as the first-half closed out with Jenkins crashing over for his first Test try and Shanklin throwing an outrageous dummy and strolling over from 20m, with Jones slotting both conversions.

Sirbu took his chance after a wayward pass from fly-half Jones, but when the second half restarted Wales were swiftly back in the groove, Henson cruising through a gap for his third touchdown in two games.

Then, sent free by another line-breaking Henson pass, Shanklin completed his hat-trick, with Jones maintaining his perfect kicking record by slotting a seventh conversion for a 49-7 lead.

Wales then wrapped up with a flurry of try-scoring to give coach Mike Ruddock plenty to feel positive about ahead of next week's showdown with New Zealand.

Points Scorers:

Wales:  (35) 66
Tries:  Shanklin (4), R Williams, S Jones, Jenkins, Henson, D Jones, Cooper
Cons:  S Jones (7), Sweeney

Romania:  (7) 7
Try:  Sirbu
Con:  Tofan

The teams:

Wales:  G Thomas, R Williams, Shanklin, Henson, Luscombe, S Jones, Peel, Jenkins, M Davies, A Jones, Llewellyn, Charteris, D Jones, Charvis, Owen.
Replacements:  S Jones, D Jones, J Thomas, M Williams, Cooper, Sweeney, Taylor.

Romania:  Maftei, Ghioc, Sauan, Gontineac, Teodorescu, Tofan, Sirbu, P Balan, Zebega, Socaciu, Tatu, Petre, Mersoiu, Tudori, Petrache.
Replacements:  Mavrodin, B Balan, Ursache, Oprisor, Andrei, Dobre, Dimofte.

Attendance:  35,408
Referee:  K Deaker (New Zealand)