Wales 33 Italy 23

Scott Gibbs claimed two vital tries for Graham Henry's Wales side on Sunday, as they played out a workman-like but dull 33-23 Lloyds TSB Six Nations Championship win over Italy in Rome.

Kickers Diego Dominguez of Italy and Neil Jenkins of Wales (pictured left) both produced stirling efforts in an attempt to light up the sloppy handling play with 18 points each from the boot -- only one Dominguez effort missed -- but in the end three Welsh tries to one decided the match.

Carlo Checchinato's late try set up a tighter than expected finish but earlier touchdowns from Gareth Cooper and two from Scott Gibbs had left Italy too much to do, and in truth an Italian win was never on the menu after an inconsistent and unstructured display.

After the match Wales coach Graham Henry felt the game as a spectacle had suffered because of the performance of referee Paul Honiss although he was careful to couch his comments in diplomatic language.

"I am frustrated, frustrated.  Read between the lines," he said.  "I am frustrated.  I am frustrated.  Is there another word for frustrated.  I am annoyed.

"Gareth (Cooper) had a good game.  He only found out he was playing at 11 o'clock this morning -- I thought I would give him a lot of time to prepare."

Italy took the lead after only a minute when Dominguez converted a penalty awarded almost immediately after the kick-off.

But Wales moved ahead with their first real attack in the seventh minute, reaping the benefit of the decision to kick for position rather than goal.

Jenkins almost played in prop Darren Morris who was halted just short of the line but managed to offload the ball to young Bath scrum-half Cooper who touched down for Jenkins to convert.

That was an early boost for Cooper, who had been called up to replace first-choice Robert Howley, but almost immediately Dominguez popped over a penalty to cut the Welsh lead to 7-6.

Another Jenkins penalty followed but then New Zealand referee Paul Honiss controversially halted an Italian attack when Walter Pozzebon looked to have put Mauro Bergamasco clear.  Honiss indicated the pass was forward but it was a close call and the crowd felt that he should have at least waited and allowed the TV referee to make a decision.  Replays however suggested that the ball had indeed been played forward, but Bergamasco showed his frustration by throwing the ball high in to the stand.

Wales took full advantage to stretch their lead on the half-hour mark.  No.8 Scott Quinnell picked the ball up from a scrum, broke away and fed Gibbs who had a simple try, again converted by Jenkins, making the score 17-6.

After 37 minutes Dominguez landed his third penalty just after Wales had replaced centre Mark Taylor with Stephen Jones but Jenkins soon replied, also from a penalty.

Just before the interval Italy missed a golden chance when Bergamasco dropped a pass from Giovanno Raineri after a brilliant move with a try looking a certainty.  It was an elimentary catch with a clean run in to the try area -- one to grace many a sports bloopers video for years to come.

Honiss, who had played advantage, did award a penalty which Dominguez converted but three points instead of seven was a poor reward, as Wales went in to half-time 20 -- 12 in the lead.

Italy coach Brad Johnstone, a New Zealander, repeated his habit of giving his half-time talk in public view on the pitch whereas his compatriot and Welsh counterpart Graham Henry retreated to the dressing room.

A patched-up Taylor returned for the second period but six minutes into the second period a Dominguez drop goal reduced arrears to 20-15 and Johnstone made his first change, bringing on Salvatore Perugini for Franco Properzi Curti.

Gibbs, served by Jenkins, touched down for a try which was again converted by Jenkins, with the Swansea centre straightening the angle as the defence shuffled to the left wing, bursting characteristically through the tackle to dive over.

Wales brough on Craig Quinnell for Ian Gough, Italy Corrado Pilat for Raineri and then Dominguez notched another penalty, making it 27-18 to Wales but another Jenkins penalty left the score 30-18.

Maurizio Zaffiri also entered the fray for Andrea Gritti, and tempers frayed as first Alessandro Cristian Stoica of Italy and then Craig Quinnell were sin binned, Stoica for a punch, then Quinnell for allegedly going in to the tackle with an elbow -- a harsh decision which many referees would not have even given a penalty for.

Italy were finishing the stronger as the game ground to a halt near the end, and then No.8 Carlo Checchinato touched down for a try but Dominguez's conversion hit a post.  It was now 30-23 but a Jenkins penalty gave Wales a cushion and it finished 33-23, confirming Italy's second wooden spoon in their first two years of Six Nations rugby, and putting Wales second in the table behind leaders England.

Sin bins:  Alessandro Cristian Stoica (70th min), Craig Quinnell (72nd min)

Attendance:  27,000
Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch Judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Iain Ramage (Scotland).

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Darren Morris, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Dai Young (c), 4 Ian Gough, 5 Andrew Moore, 6 Colin Charvis, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Gareth Cooper, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Dafydd James, 12 Scott Gibbs, 13 Mark Taylor, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Allan Bateman, Craig Quinnell
Unused:  Geraint Lewis, Chris Anthony, Huw Harries, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Franco Properzi-Curti, 4 Wim Visser, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Carlo Checchinato, 9 Matteo Mazzantini, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Walter Pozzebon, 13 Giovanni Raineri, 14 Massimiliano Perziano, 15 Cristian Stoica
Reserves:  Luca Martin, Giampiero De Carli, Salvatore Perugini, Corrado Pilat, Maurizio Zaffiri
Unused:  Carlo Caione, Giampiero Mazzi

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Cooper G.J. 1, Gibbs I.S. 2
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 3
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 4

Italy
Tries:  Checchinato C. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 5
Drop G.:  Dominguez D. 1