Wales recorded their first Test win since last November when their second-string side put paid to a lacklustre Romania to the tune of 54-8 at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.
The victory ended a sorry run of defeats for the Welsh, although this match was a "Test" in name only in real terms, with head coach Steve Hansen handing the duties to his assistant Mike Ruddock after selecting an entire team of fringe players.
But despite the bit-part cast put out by the Welsh, there were actually some plus points amid a game where they dominated totally but failed to make the most of their possession, squandering overlap after overlap in a match punctuated by handling errors and penalties.
The international comeback of Neath-Swansea wing Shane Williams was marked with two tries in a skilful and explosive display, laying down a serious marker for a more regular inclusion after being out of the fold under coach Hansen.
Fullback Gavin Henson hit a perfect 10 from 10 with the boot in converting all six Welsh tries and adding four penalties, while blindside Jonathan Thomas was a tower in the line-out and a physical presence with ball in hand -- enough indeed to suggest that he should be in the senior ranks rather than this cast of extras.
The backs as a whole however -- the brilliant Williams excepted -- wasted numerous attempts to score with the plentiful ball at their disposal, with fly-half Nicky Robinson lacking the leadership to direct the game apart from a brilliantly-executed inside ball for debutant wing Nathan Brew's second-half try.
For the Oaks of Romania, the defeat was another apt demonstration of the decay afflicting the game there since the demise of the Communist regime which had built its rugby up.
Their ill-disciplined pack saw the sin-binnings of front rowers Petru Balan (use of the shoulder) and Marius Tincu (stamping) towards the start of the second half, and it should have been more after a lenient first half from South African referee Andy Turner, who could well have sent some more of the Oaks to the cooler after some cynical and dangerous offences from their forwards, including pulling down at the line-out and persistent killing of the ball.
Scrum-half Lucian Sirbu however looked an accomplished footballer capable of filling the considerable shoes of the absent veteran Pitre Mitu, and at least attempted to inject some thrust into their limp attack.
Wales were never in danger of losing this one though, and had the lead as early as the second minute when Shane Williams went over in the left corner after referee Turner played a good advantage from a Romanian knock on, after their scrum was shoved off its own feed. The ball was spun quickly from right to left, with Williams the grateful recipient.
But Romania showed some battle themselves, in the early stages at least, and were rewarded for a string of rolling mauls when prop Balan was barged over the line, fullback Dan Dumbrava missing the conversion from the left touchline.
Had Romania persevered with this form of attack throughout, then against a Welsh front five badly lacking cohesion in the contact area, they would surely have profited more.
A Henson penalty kept Wales on the move, and then lively Llanelli scrum-half Mike Phillips gave them a boost with a try on an impressive debut, picking and going from short range after centre Andy Marinos had punched a hole in the defence and set up the ruck.
Dumbrava hit a penalty for Romania on the 15-minute mark, but it was to be their last points of the match as they then played the role of tacklers for 65 minutes, plus the remarkable 10 minutes of stoppage time at the end of the match played by referee Turner for some reason.
Wales then seemed to go into their shells, although the physical scrum-half Phillips got through some good work, but it was not until just before the break that they got their next try after a lean 20 minutes.
No.8 Alix Popham was the scorer after a very well structured rolling maul from all of 15 metres, with superb low body positions adopted by the Welsh forwards against a helpless and rapidly retreating Romanian defence -- Henson converting before adding a penalty to take the score to 30-8 at half-time.
The score really should have been at least doubled and probably nearer the 70-80 points mark in a second half which saw little headway gained by the visitors, but instead of sticking to the basics, Wales tried to complicate matters, to the frustration of the crowd.
Henson added another penalty, before Celtic Warriors wing Nathan Brew marked his debut with a try, coming off the right flank into midfield at pace on a straightening angle and being found well by fly-half Robinson, who flat-footed the defence with his change of direction with a pass from short range.
Andy Williams at scrum-half was among a plethora of substitutions, but on his debut he never exuded the same authority as the departed Phillips, and with the game just passing by, it was nearly 20 minutes before the next try.
When it came it was a beauty, energetic openside Gavin Thomas going over from close in after Shane Williams had come in from his wing perch to midfield and sniped from the fringes before releasing a superb flip pass from the tackle, again demonstrating the creativity with which he has been playing for some time.
Romania frustratingly kicked ball away and knocked on instead of sticking to their continuity game late on, and with the clock running down there was time for another Welsh try.
It was that man Williams who pounced, and with referee Turner playing an advantage for offside, he jinked past his man before reaching over the line for his second five-pointer, Henson rounding off a brilliant day with the boot by striking his sixth conversion, this time from all the way out on the left touchline.
This may have been a largely meaningless outing for the Welsh, but it has thrown up some selection posers for Hansen and his panel, with their senior team -- having been thrashed by a second-string England XV last weekend -- hosting Scotland in Cardiff on Saturday.
For Romania, expect their World Cup to be a torturous one if this performance is anything to go by.
Man of the match: Why oh why have Wales overlooked Neath-Swansea wing Shane Williams for the last two years or so? In his comeback Test he showed that he has the creative mind and attacking thrust to be a regular starter, even if he does have eyes on a move to scrum-half at club level. Two tries in this game and a whole lot of endeavour show that he is as hungry as ever to make up for lost time in the international wilderness. Blindside Jonathan Thomas and scrum-half Mike Phillips also shone for the hosts.
Moment of the match: The second-half try of debutant right-wing Nathan Brew was simplicity exemplified, but a well-taken and imaginative score. In on an angle from his wing, a deft switch pass from fly-half Nicky Robinson created the gap for Brew to power over -- even if the drift defence of the Romanians left somewhat to be desired.
Villain of the match: The obvious candidates would be Romanian front rowers Petru Balan and Marius Tincu who were sin-binned in the second half, but for something which was not even penalised we are going to give debutant scrum-half Mike Phillips the dubious honour. It stems from an incident in the first half where a Romanian player killed the ball at a ruck. It was rightly penalised, but a frustrated Phillips gestured to the referee to yellow card the offending player, waving his hand in the air in a mock booking. Such actions may have crept into soccer, but they have no place at all in the gentlemen's game of rugby. Slapped wrists for Phillips, although it may have been due to over-eagerness on his debut rather than an unsavoury character trait.
The Teams:
Wales: 1 Paul James, 2 Mefin Davies (c), 3 Ben Evans, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Ian Gough, 6 Gavin Thomas, 7 Jonathan Thomas, 8 Alix Popham, 9 Mike Phillips, 10 Nicky Robinson, 11 Nathan Brew, 12 Matthew Watkins, 13 Andy Marinos, 14 Shane Williams, 15 Gavin Henson
Reserves: James Bater, Jonathan Bryant, Deiniol Jones, Andy Williams, Chris Anthony, Gareth Wyatt, Paul Young
Romania: 1 Petru Balan, 2 Marius Tincu, 3 Marcel Socaciu, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Cristian Petre, 6 George Chiriac, 7 Costica Mersoiu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 12 Romeo Gontineac (c), 13 Valentin Maftei, 14 Cristian Sauan, 15 Dan Dumbrava
Reserves: Iulian Andrei, Augustin Petrechei, Cezar Popescu, Ioan Teodorescu, Petrisor Toderasc, Dan Tudosa, Marian Tudori
Referee: Turner a.
Points Scorers:
Wales
Tries: Brew N. 1, Williams S.M. 2, Phillips M. 1, Popham A.J. 1, Thomas G. 1
Conv: Henson G.L. 6
Pen K.: Henson G.L. 4
Romania
Tries: Balan P.V. 1
Pen K.: Dumbrava D. 1
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