Wales set up a championship showdown with Ireland in Cardiff next week, beating Italy narrowly 20-15 in Rome and leaving themselves with a bigger job to do next week than ought to have been necessary.
Wales now have to win by 18 points against Ireland in Cardiff next week -- and that's before Ireland play Scotland this afternoon.
Tom Shanklin's late cameo try bales Wales out, and Italy might once again reflect that with a little more finesse they would have had a result here. Wales might reflect that they were dashed lucky, plain and simple. On this form, an Irish Grand Slam is a near-formality (late Saturday results notwithstanding).
Wales are, in fact, in a bit of a trough. Warren Gatland's attempt to shake things up after a slightly stale performance in Paris simply didn't work, with ring rust causing problems in a number of instances. Up front, the scrum was shoved around tamely, while neither Gavin Henson nor James Hook were anything like the free-running talented players we know they can be.
Hook in particular was very quiet, getting drawn into a dour kicking game when his mandate had surely been to speed and open the game up as much as possible.
That Hook and co. were off-form and out of kilter was even more open to criticism because Italy offered no more than their usual mixture of territorial kicking and gear grinding up front. In stark contrast to previous weeks the Azzurri did keep their penalty count down, not letting Wales get a toehold in their half at all. Wales must have been prepared for a forward onslaught, but they didn't seem it.
On the two occasions Wales did manage sustained pressure, they scored tries. That was the difference. italy also had a couple of spells of possession in the Welsh 22, but once came away with a penalty and once, just before half-time, nothing after a botched drop goal attempt. There, in fact, was the difference between the teams.
Otherwise, it was a nothing game. Barely any clean breaking in the backs, a hail of aerial balls, a series of ugly thudding forward charges. There were a few techincal bits and bobs for the puritan to chew over, a couple of admirable handling moments from props who simply don't look like they can do that sort of thing, a fabulous all-action display from the irrepresible Sergio Parisse and ... erm ... that's it.
Italy took a deserved sixth-minute lead when full-back Andrea Marcato slotted a penalty.
Andrea Marcato's kick came after referee Alan Lewis penalised the Wales front row, which was a totally changed unit from the one on duty in Paris two weeks ago.
Wales looked to move possession wide, but they also had to remain patient, biding their time in the hope scoring opportunities would present themselves later.
The visitors had expected an early Azzurri onslaught, and so it proved, with Marcato sacrificing a kickable penalty for territory in the corner when Wales lock Luke Charteris was punished for killing possession.
And Italy closed out an impressive opening quarter by launching another attack, as Mirco Bergamasco chased a kick that Wales full-back Lee Byrne smothered.
Wales should have drawn level in the 21st minute, but Hook missed a penalty from in front of the posts that confirmed an error-strewn team performance.
The visitors had to start making their presence felt, yet they struggled for fluency, forcing passes and misdirecting kicks that merely played into Italian hands.
Wales boss Warren Gatland would have been infuriated at what was unfolding in front of him, but his team gave him cause for optimism 14 minutes before the break.
A belated spell of Wales pressure produced its reward when Henson cleverly switched attacking direction and wing Shane Williams scored a simple overlap try.
It was his Wales record-equalling eighth try against Italy, and left him one short of matching Gareth Edwards' Wales best of 18 in Five or Six Nations rugby.
Hook atoned for his earlier error by slotting the extras, giving Wales a 7-3 lead, but the visitors still had plenty of work to do.
And there were further problems for the Wales front-row, as they conceded a second penalty that Marcato kicked, cutting the deficit to one point.Marcato completed his hat-trick five minutes before the break after Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones took out Azzurri scrum-half Paul Griffen off the ball, and Wales were back to square one.
And they had a lucky escape on the stroke of half-time, when wing Mark Jones just managed to ground possession behind his own line under pressure from Italy flanker Alessandro Zanni.
It meant Italy ended the opening 40 minutes with an attacking scrum, and only more impressive defensive resilience by the heavily-worked Jones kept them out.
Gatland opted against making any interval substitutions, retaining belief in a team which had produced easily the worst 40-minute performance of his nine Six Nations Tests in charge.
But there was no sign of Italy losing their conviction either, with fly-half Luke McLean keeping his team in the ascendancy by cleverly mixing and matching his kicking game.
And with skipper Parisse offering a box of tricks off the back of the scrum, Wales had their hands full.
Italy deserved to be more than two points ahead, and it was Azzurri head coach Nick Mallett who made the first changes, sending on Castrogiovanni and lock Carlo del Fava after 50 minutes.
Wales were patternless -- and often clueless -- lacking the collective nous to tighten up their game.
As a frantic third quarter edged towards its close, so the Italian forwards stepped up a gear after Castrogiovanni's arrival and Marcato booted his fourth penalty for a 12-7 advantage.
Gatland then began to use his bench, sending on three reinforcements up front in prop Gethin Jenkins, hooker Matthew Rees and back-row ace Ryan Jones, before a Hook penalty narrowed the deficit again to two points.
A Hook penalty after 65 minutes inched Wales ahead, but the game remained poised on a knife edge.
Byrne was then replaced by Tom Shanklin, yet Shanklin's first contribution was to concede a penalty 35 metres out and Marcato made it five kicks out of five.
The unthinkable prospect of defeat continued to loom large for Wales, trailing 15-13 with nine minutes left.
But it was the cue for Shanklin to make amends by scoring a quality try, dummying Marcato as he crossed the line after superb approach work by Hook. Hook converted -- the sighs of relief at the final whistle echoed round the valleys.
Man of the match: Sergio Parisse is fast becoming a legend.
Moment of the match: Tom Shanklin's try was the one moment of pure class in a patchy game.
Villain of the match: Nothing to report.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Pens: Marcato 5
For Wales:
Tries: S. Williams, Shanklin
Cons: Hook 2
Pens: Hook 2
Italy: 15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Giulio Rubini, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canovosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Roberto Quartaroli.
Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Roberts,12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 James Hook, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Dafydd Jones, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Rhys Thomas, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 John Yapp
Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Tom Shanklin
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Touch judges: David Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
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