Welsh left fuming as referee kicks late play into touch

14 April 2012

Italy 23 Wales 20

Gareth Jenkins was left facing a bleak future as he watched his Welsh team toss away a chance to win their first Six Nations Championship match of a bleak campaign in Rome yesterday.

With nine minutes left, Wales were cruising to what seemed inevitable victory, but a sensational try by Mauro Bergamasco changed the whole complexion of the match to leave Wales favourites for the tournament's wooden spoon as Italy enjoyed their first back-to-back wins since entry into the Six Nations tournament.

Read more:

• Fury as O'Gara is 'choked'

• Ashton's world of worry

• Catt: I'm no Carling or Johnson - I'll do it my way

• The big Catt is back as captain

• France recall for England's 'scourge'

• Revolving door is out of control

• Flood has a tough act to follow

Wales were still in with a chance to square this incredible see-saw encounter with seconds left, but instead of kicking for goal, James Hook kicked for territory believing there was more time on the clock, and then watched in disbelief as referee Chris White blew for time.

Wales went behind in the 12th minute when Alun Wyn Jones was punished for not rolling away and Ramiro Pez's kick bisected the posts for Italy to take the lead.

The visitors hit back with two foraging breaks that could have led to scores but Italy went further ahead when Pez drove his second penalty home after Wales were penalised for taking-out Gonzalo Canale, who needed prolonged treatment for a twisted knee and was later forced off.

Shane Williams' predatory talents were already a curse for the Italians, and all the Welshman's running was converted to points when he scored the first try of the match after 26 minutes. The move was fashioned by Hook, whose kick ahead was seized by Tom Shanklin.

The Welsh centre waited for the inevitable tackle and offloaded for Williams to race beyond Italy's defence.

Stephen Jones completed the conversion to give Wales the lead, but was then replaced by Gareth Thomas when the Welsh captain went off for treatment to a cut eye.

A wonderful moment of Italian magic restored the home supporters' confidence when Kaine Robertson started and executed Italy's first try.

The centre kicked deep into Welsh territory in the 37th minute and gave chase, with the lumbering Ian Gough hopelessly short of the pace needed to beat the flying Italian wing to the ball.

Robertson gathered to run for the line and Gough rolled on his back in frustration unable to watch as Pez completed the simple conversion as Italy swept into a 13-7 lead at the break.

Stephen Jones returned from the treatment table to start the second half but gave Hook the responsibility for kicking a penalty from 25 yards to reduce the deficit to three points.

Five minutes after the break, Wales went ahead through a try by Matthew Rees and Hook obliged with the conversion.

Hook, the coolest player in the stadium, increased the Welsh lead from another penalty, but this led to a resurgence by Italy.

They were camped on the Welsh line on the hour with Sergio Parisse showing why Stade Francais value his services so much. But, try as they might, they could not convert the considerable possession they enjoyed to points as the Welsh tackled like demons to protect their line.

Carlo Festuccia hurled his huge frame through a tunnel of bodies to crash the ball to turf just short of the line as Wales absorbed the pressure until the defensive collapse that led to Bergamasco's winning try.

The referee's final whistle left Wales seething over their lost opportunity and Shane Williams said: "We said, 'How long have we got?' and the ref said 10 seconds. We said 'can we kick to touch' and he said 'carry on'.

"You could see from the looks on the players' faces that we are gutted. But we can't do anything about it. Italy played really well."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in