Grand Slam’s in sight for Wales
WALES have a shot of Grand Slam glory in Paris next Saturday after an inevitable thrashing of Italy — but know they need to go up several gears to beat France.
Scoring seven tries in Rome — two from Ken Owens and one each for Josh Adams, Taulupe Faletau, George North, Callum Sheedy and Louis Rees-Zammit — they set up completing a remarkable comeback.
Last year, Wayne Pivac’s side only beat Georgia and Italy, now they could sweep the board in the Six Nations.
But the Welsh are wary of France. ‘We know we have to be ready. We know how potent France are,’ said North who equalled Shane Williams’ Welsh try-scoring record in the Six Nations with his 22nd Championship try and eighth in a row against Italy.
‘After the autumn series there wasn’t much hype about us, which was always good because we like to be underdogs. The hard work the boys put in over the autumn series and the early part of the Six Nations is coming through now.’
Italy were 27-0 down in half an hour, saw Luca Bigi and Marco Riccioni sin-binned, and lost their 31st Six Nations match in a row.
Wales were clinical. One more win and this will be their fifth Six Nations Slam, a far cry from the side that lost 10 of their first 13 Tests under Pivac.
‘Chalk and cheese, aren’t they?’ added North. ‘We know exactly the pain we went through in the autumn. This Championship was always going to be a line in the sand for us and we’re very pleased to be four from four, and talk about a Grand Slam.’
Captain Alun Wyn Jones said winning in Paris will be tough. ‘It’s going to be another week of weeks leading up to Saturday,’ he said. ‘We have to go up a few gears to go there and perform.’