Saturday 21 March 2015 17:01, UK
Wales ran riot in the Rome sunshine to beat Italy 61-20, scoring 47 unanswered second-half points before Leonardo Sarto's last-minute try trimmed the margin of victory slightly.
Winger George North claimed a hat-trick while Jamie Roberts, Liam Williams, Rhys Webb, Sam Warburton and Scott Williams also went over. Halfpenny added two penalties before going off injured while Dan Biggar added six conversions and a penalty.
However things were not exactly going to plan for Wales early on as they took a narrow 13-11 lead at the break.
Wales made a sloppy start as lock Luke Charteris conceded a penalty for obstruction inside the opening minute that was converted by fly-half Kelly Haimona to give Italy a 3-0 lead.
Haimona, though, was forced off injured just four minutes later, suffering an arm injury in an attempted tackle on Wales centre Jamie Roberts, and he was replaced by Luciano Orquera.
Orquera then restored Italy's advantage through an angled penalty strike, but Halfpenny replied immediately, levelling the contest at 6-6.
Wales struck with a try after 19 minutes when Halfpenny's well-placed kick was gathered by Roberts, who finished off the move. Halfpenny failed to land the touchline conversion attempt, but Wales led 11-6.
That lead was soon cut down though as a superb driving maul from Italy put the Wales defence under pressure and winger Giovambattista Venditti powered through a Roberts tackle to score.
Orquera’s conversion gave the hosts a 13-11 lead and Wales plans went more awry when they lost Halfpenny to concussion after he got caught with a knee trying to bring down a rampaging Samuela Vunisa.
Biggar gave Wales a 14-13 lead going into the break with his first penalty of the day but their Six Nations hopes were hanging by a thread.
Superb second-half
It was a different story in the second half as Wales shook of their first-half ennui and repsonded in remarkable fashion.
First, Webb tapped a quick penalty and then passed to Liam Williams who went over, Biggar’s conversion made it 21-13.
Moments later Liam Williams was in the action again as he fielded a up and under and broke through the Italian chasers before passing to North who went over. Biggar converted to make it 28-13.
Italy were then down to 14 men after Andrea Masi was sent to the sin-bin for tackling the man without the ball and that created enough space for North to go over for his second try which Biggar duly converted for a 35-13 win.
The game unravelled further for Italy when North bumped off two defenders to go over for his hat-trick and when Quintin Geldenhuys was also sent to the sin-bin, Wales cut lose with Webb, Sam Warburton and Scott Williams rounding off a remarkable second-half for Wales.
Italy did have the final say of the game as winger Leonardo Sarto scored ,which was converted by Orquera. It was a minor blow in terms of points difference but made no real difference after Ireland's 30 point win over Scotland.
