Italy 7 Wales 33: Jon Davies-inspired fightback earns win for Dragons… but they leave disappointed after failing to earn a bonus point

WALES made hard work of racking up an eleventh successive win over the Azzurri, and will have to play much better than this to halt England’s all-conquering run on Saturday.

Rob Howley’s team actually trailed 7-3 at half time and only pulled clear when Italy were down to 14 men after prop Andrea Lovotti was shown a yellow card.

Victory also came at a heavy price, with star wing George North and fly half Dan Biggar both picking up injuries that look likely to rule them out of the Cardifff showdown.

Keep up to date with all the latest Six Nations news on our rugby union page

North had his right leg heavily strapped, and actually looked to make the injury worse when he sprinted sixty yards for Wales third try two minutes from time.

He was limping before and after that burst, but instinct took over and he gritted his teeth to leave Italy full back Edoardo Pavani for dead in what proved a real bittersweet moment.

Centre Jonathan Davies and North’s wing partner, Liam Williams, both touched down then Italy were a man short, and despite the scoreline this was a far from convincing Welsh performance.

Wales should have been well ahead before Edoardo Gori opened the scoring on 29 minutes, but there was a touch of arrogance in the way they turned down a series of kickable penalties.

That decision may have owed something to the wet conditions, and the fact that Leigh Halfpenny missed with a routine shot at goal after just three minutes.

But when they were awarded three more kickable penalties during a dominant display in the opening quarter, Wales kept opting to kick to touch in the corner – and they came away empty-handed every time.

There was no real conviction to their driving mauls, and it was only when they opted for guile rather than grunt that they threatened to score.

When Wales moved it wide, Dan Biggar’s failure to gather a low pass almost paid dividends as the ball bounced off his shin and ran behind the Italian line. But home full back Edoardo Padovani just beat Jonathan Davies to the touch down.

The Biggar-Davies combination linked more effectively to carve out the first clean break of the game, and the Welsh fly half set the alarm bells ringing with a couple of high kicks to the corner for George North and Liam Williams to try to pluck out of the air.

Williams almost lost his marker but North got a painful band on the thigh for his troubles when he collided with Carlo Canna, although the injury-prone wing was able to continue after treatment.

The game was doing little to set the pulses racing until Padovani called a halt to a succession of meaningless long kicks by actually running the ball back at Wales.

He beat two men on a scintillating run down the left flank, and that seemed to sting the home team into action.

They shunted Wales off the ball at their own scrum and Sergio Parisse scattered a couple of men as he rampaged away with the ball in trademark fashion.

Suddenly Italy’s tails were up, and Parrisse led the charge again as they hammered away at the Welsh line. Lock George Biagi was also held up inches short, but scrum half Gori spotted a chink in the Welsh defence and wriggled over the try.

Cann slotted he simple conversion, but Wales responded well and when they won yet another penalty sanity finally prevailed and Halfpenny opened the Welsh account.

It still needed a brilliant bit of wok on the floor from deposed skipper Sam Warburton to prevent Italy stretching their lead – but it was a different story after the break, even though fly half Biggar departed clutching his ribs.

Wales cranked up the pressure, and Halfpenny kicked three more penalties in quick succession to put his team 12-7 ahead.

That seemed to release the shackles, and Biggar’s replacement – Sam Davies – combined cleverly with half back partner Rhys Webb to give Wales a great platform. And this time they made the most of it.

Wales had struggled in the scrum early on, but the boot was on the other foot after they sent on replacement props Rob Evans and Tomas Francis.

Italy loose head Lovotti was shown the yellow card for repeatedly collapsing the set piece close to the line, and Scott Williams showed some nifty footwork to put centre partner Davies over for a try

That 62nd minute score was followed by a second Welsh try six minutes later, as they made the extra man tell by creating an overlap for Williams to scoot across.

Then came North’s flying finale – but it will take more than just a big finish to deny Edie Jones’ men the bragging rights on Saturday.