Wales 27 Italy 15

Wales booked themselves a place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals courtesy of a 27-15 victory over Italy at the Canberra Stadium, the Azzurri putting up brave resistance, but being outscored by three tries to nil in the process.

The Welsh tries were scored by wing Mark Jones, centre Sonny Parker and flanker Dafydd Jones, with the rest of their points coming from the boot of inside centre Iestyn Harris.

Harris converted all three tries and added two penalties as the battered and bruised Azzurri, who had to contend with an horrific playing schedule at this World Cup, were never able to get into this match and keep up pressure on their opponents.

They seemed to lack composure, but they looked tired from their previous three World Cup encounters -- the last two, against Tonga and Canada took a lot out of them -- and they were unable to raise themselves against a Welsh team that tried to be adventurous at times.

The selection of Ceri Sweeney at fly-half suggested that they would run the ball, and although they did at times -- most notably in the build-up to Parker's try, when Sweeney broke after his opposite number Rima Wakarua had rushed up on defence and opened the gap up for him -- the introduction of Stephen Jones after 49 minutes allowed them to consolidate at a crucial stage in the game.

Wales's first try, by wing Jones, also saw a bit of adventure, but it came more from an Italian error that anything else, as they failed to clear their line, giving Wales a chance to attack in the Azzurri 22 before Jones touched down in the left-hand corner.

Sweeney did not have a bad game, but Jones kicked for field position and took some clever options -- along with replacement scrum-half Gareth Cooper -- and despite an Azzurri mini-comeback in the second half, which saw them fight back to 20-15, Wales absorbed the pressure and then hit back with a try from flanker Dafydd Jones in the 64th minute that sealed the win for them.

Perhaps a four-try bonus point would have made life a lot easier for them, as Italy kept them scoreless for the remainder of the game, but coach Steve Hansen would be a relieved man with this win, the victory assuring them of a play-off spot, although they are scheduled to meet likely Pool C winners England in the quarter-finals.

Wales could top the Pool D table if they beat New Zealand in Sydney next Sunday, but it seem an unlikely result, with the Men in Black looking fairly sharp in their 91-7 win over Tonga on Friday.

The Azzurri deserve some kudos for their showing at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, but it would have been interesting to see how they would have performed against Wales if they had had enough time to prepare for this game, which would have allowed some of their players to recover from a few niggling injuries.

Man of the match:  Nobody really stands out in this match.  Italian skipper Alessandro Troncon tried his best, as always, while Aaron Persico was a bundle of energy once again.  For Wales, wings Mark Jones and Gareth Thomas looked full of running, but they did not see enough ball to have a bigger say, while centres Iestyn Harris and Sonny Parker were impressive, too.  In the end, we settled on Harris for a sound performance on defence and attack, while he also kicked some crucial goals, despite missing a few in the latter stages of the game.

Moment of the match:  We have two here.  One is a sad one, the other a game-turning moment.  The first moment involves Welsh prop Duncan Jones, with the fluffy white hair, who went off injured in the 25th minute -- seemingly with a damaged ankle and knee after his leg got trapped under a bunch of bodies.  It really is sad to see a player injured and his disappointment on the sidelines was evident to all.  The second moment, for us, was Sonny Parker's try just before half-time, which saw Wales into a 20-9 half-time lead.  The Azzurri were guilty of some sloppy defence and it cost them seven points.  If they had not conceded that try, they could easily have gone into the lead just after half-time when Rima Wakarua narrowed the scoreline to 20-15 with two penalties in minutes 42 and 49.

Villain of the match:  Nobody in the game -- instead we will award this to the people responsible for Italy's horrific Rugby World Cup draw.  They are on their way home now, having been forced to play four matches in the space of fourteen days, while Wales have a nice seven-day break before their clash with New Zealand.  Does it make sense?  No!  Should it be looked into?  Please!  Italian coach John Kirwan expressed his disgust at the draw in April, telling us at the time:  "Heads could roll, including mine, but that's the least of my worries.  It's more the players I fear for.  It's plain dangerous."

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Duncan Jones, 2 Robin McBryde, 3 Adam Jones, 4 Brent Cockbain, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 6 Dafydd Jones, 7 Martyn Williams, 8 Colin Charvis (c), 9 Dwayne Peel, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Iestyn Harris, 13 Sonny Parker, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Kevin Morgan
Reserves:  Gareth Cooper, Gethin Jenkins, Robert Sidoli, Rhys Williams, Jonathan Thomas, Stephen Jones
Unused:  Mefin Davies

Italy:  1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Andrea Masi, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gonzalo Canale
Reserves:  Cristian Bezzi, Carlo Festuccia, Matthew Phillips, Scott Palmer, Mauro Bergamasco, Francesco Mazzariol, Salvatore Perugini

Attendance:  22641
Referee:  Cole a.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Jones M.A. 1, Parker S. 1, Jones D.R. 1
Conv:  Harris I.R. 3
Pen K.:  Harris I.R. 2

Italy
Pen K.:  Wakarua-Noema R. 5