LOSERS
But Williams provided a couple of them.
It came as a surprise when Wales’ left wing sliced the ball so badly at one point that the TV co-commentator David Flatman described it as “the worst kick Josh Adams has ever done”.
But the positives heavily outweighed the odd negative in his game.
The hard-running West Walian is a player who makes things happen, who seems to have the ability to beat players when others are running into brick walls.
He always puts in a shift and he has started the Six Nations bang in form.
Warren Gatland would once again have been pleased with his effort. These two may have seen their side lose yet again, but they showed class in their dealings with a group of Welsh supporters who were staying at the same hotel as the Italy squad.
Autograph books – yes, those haven’t quite gone the way of the dodo – were signed, pictures were posed for, small talk was exchanged.
Those Welsh fans sent delighted texts home complimenting the Look, a win on the road in the Six Nations is not to be sniffed at, but this was an unconvincing Wales performance and the failure to leave Rome with a bonus point could prove costly in the final shake-up.
Of course, Warren Gatland will be pleased his side secured the victory.
Winning ugly has a lot to be said for it, after all, and every side has to do it once in a while.
But Gatland would have been looking for a performance as well as a result in Italy and Wales were a long way from delivering on that front.
Their backs failed to click and their line-out was a shambles. There was a lack of punch with ball in hand, too many turnovers and not enough poise or subtlety.
Wales didn’t bag that extra point and nor did they deserve it.
Some will excuse the performance on the basis that 10 personnel changes were made.
But Gatland made 14 changes for the game with Tonga in the autumn and Wales put 74 points on the board. Their much-lauded depth was supposed to have allowed them scope to experiment on such a scale.
For England, the front-liners will return and the performance should improve.
It will need to.
Dragons hooker Elliot Dee worked hard with ball in hand, making 15 carries.
But the Welsh line-out was all over the place.
The set-piece has many parts, of course, and it isn’t just about the hooker, with the lifters and jumpers also part of the deal.
Whatever, the operation didn’t work out anything like it should have, with the hosts causing all kinds of problems on the Welsh throw.
Dee gamely battled in the loose. But a Test side simply shouldn’t be having as many balls picked off as Wales did in the Italian capital.
Nor did the situation improve dramatically when Ryan Elias came on, with Italy pouncing on another Welsh throw.
Back to the drawing board, anyone?
Maybe some in Italy will be happy with a competitive Italian performance. If so, they are too easily pleased. The Azzurri’s losing run in the Six Nations is now up to 19 games and battling defeats are not going to remove questions over how much they bring to the tournament.
Wales have rested players in two successive years against them and prevailed each time. Somehow, Italy have to stop their dismal run.
It didn’t really happen for Dan Biggar and Aled Davies. Both had decent moments, but both had ordinary moments as well.
While Biggar kicked well at the posts and could not be faulted for effort, he too often followed up a telling intervention with a mistake. One superb touchfinder to the corner was interspersed with uncharacteristically erratic work on other occasions.
His competitive spirit was a plus, he took one high ball superbly and there was a nice pass in the build-up to Josh Adams’ try, but he didn’t always look relaxed and the Welsh backs didn’t fire as a unit.
Davies put in some accurate box kicks and came up with a smart dart down the right but also had to burrow for ball at the breakdown and, two games into the championship, the No. 9 jersey is wide open.