Wales eyes Six Nations Grand Slam after trouncing Italy 48-7 in Rome

Wales trounced Italy 48-7 in the Six Nations on Saturday to leave it within one win of a second Grand Slam in three championships.

Wales secured the fourth bonuspoint try within half an hour and led by a game-over 27-0. Wales finished with seven tries and had two more disallowed.

Next weekend, Wales will face France in Paris with a chance to win the championship and a record-tying 13th Grand Slam. It is an extraordinary transformation from last year, when Wales finished fifth and endured its worst Six Nations since 2007.

Italy suffered a record-extending 31st successive defeat — a 20th straight at home since 2013 — and had two players sent to the sin-bin for the second successive match. While they had the man advantage, the Welsh scored 26 points.

Coach Wayne Pivac warned there would be no razzle-dazzle until they got on top of Italy, but the home side made it easy for them in an empty Stadio Olimpico.

Italy normally starts well — it scored the opening points against England and Ireland — but made a dreadful start in sunny conditions.

Paolo Garbisi's kickoff went dead, and captain Luca Bigi was yellow-carded after seven minutes for a professional foul.

Wales pounced. First, from an attacking scrum, flyhalf Dan Biggar threw a flat, miss-out pass for left wing Josh Adams to catch and score, then No. 8 Taulupe Faletau scored when Wales worked lineout ball in the Italy 22 left and right, and Italy ran out of defenders.

It was all too easy for Wales, as hooker Ken Owens scored two similar tries within 10 minutes of each other from lineout mauls. The tries for Owens and Faletau were their first in tests since 2016.

After the break, Wales' procession continued when Jonathan Davies offloaded to midfield partner George North, who raced 30 meters to between the posts then was rested.

Pivac made seven substitutions in the third quarter, including resting captain Alun Wyn Jones to give Jake Ball a 50th cap, and the changes stuttered Wales' momentum.

Italy scored a converted try out of nothing when left wing Montanna Ioane chipped over Rees-Zammit and collected before diving into the corner.

But Wales wasn't denied for long, thanks to Italy. Replacement forward Marco Riccioni was yellowcarded for leading with his forearm into the neck of Uilisi Halaholo.

Wales responded with tries to replacement flyhalf Callum Sheedy and an 80-meter intercept by Rees-Zammit to wrap up a 16th consecutive win against Italy, their most against one opponent.

The winners of the SportMalta Awards Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali were announced on Saturday evening during a live transmission aired on TSN1 as well as several facebook pages.

The 61st edition was a unique one due to the current Covid19 pandemic situation in that it was not one in which finalists and guests could interact socially.

Instead a virtual ceremony was held within the guidelines of the legal notice issued recently by the Malta Health Authorities.

Guest speakers during this transmission included Hon. Clifton Grima Parliamentary Secretary responsible from Sport, Recreation and Voluntary Organisations, Dr Luciano Busuttil Chairman SportMalta, CEO SportMalta Mark Cutajar and Sandro Micallef President of the Malta Sports Journalists Association.

Once again this annual awards ceremony was a joint collaboration between the Malta Sports Journalists Association and SportMalta with the backing of the Government Sport Secretariat.

During the live show hosted by Lorraine Cunningham and Chris Cauchi a total of 11 honours were announced seven of which were a result of the jury vote.

The other awards were one due to a popular vote by the public, one the choice of the Executive Committee of the Malta Sports Journalists Association and the other two were given out upon a nomination by Special Olympics.

The honours were won as follows:

Sportsman of the Year – DEJAN GRECH (Eight Ball Pool)

Sportswoman of the Year – HALEY BUGEJA (Football)

Male Sports Youth of the Year – RICHARD SCHULTHEIS (Sailing) Female Sports Youth of the Year – TENISHIA THORNTON (Weightlifting)

Sports Team of the Year – MALTA NATIONAL FEMALE FOOTBALL TEAM (Football)

Sports Coach of the Year – DEVIS MANGIA (National Men Football Team Coach)

Sports Official of the Year – JOSEPH MUSCAT (General Secretary Malta Basketball Association)

International Sports Event of the Year – EIGHT BALL POOL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

People’s Choice Award MARK MARLOW (President Malta Employees Sport Association)

Special Olympics Male Athlete Award – MARK SERGE (Ten Pin Bowling)

Special Olympics Female Athlete Award – KLARA ZAMMIT (Open Water Swimming)

Robert Lewandowski scored again Saturday as Bayern Munich extended its Bundesliga lead with a 3-1 win at Werder Bremen.

Lewandowski took his season tally to 32 league goals and matched the record of scoring against 16 different teams within a season. He managed the same feat last season. Former Bayern great Gerd Müller and Bremen striker Aílton are the only others to manage it.

Lewandowski has so far only failed to score against Leipzig this season. The teams meet in Leipzig on April 3, when the Poland striker will be aiming to become the first player to score against every opponent in a season.

By scoring his 268th league goal on Saturday, Lewandowski also matched Klaus Fischer's haul from 1968-88. Only Gerd Müller, who scored 365 goals for Bayern between 1965-79, has more.

Lewandowski is closing in on Müller's league record of 40 goals from the 1971-72 season.

It wasn't just Lewandowski in Bremen.

Thomas Müller starred with two assists for Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry as Bayern moved five points clear of Leipzig, which hosts Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Goretzka opened the scoring in the 23rd when Müller headed on Joshua Kimmich's corner, and

Müller was involved again in the 35th. He did brilliantly to control Kimmich's cross on his chest and then calmly slot the ball across for Gnabry.

Lewandowski drew good saves from Jiri Pavlenka and hit the crossbar before he finally got his goal in the 67th. A rebound from Bremen defender Ludwig Augustinsson landed at his feet for one of Lewandowski's easiest goals this season.

Niclas Füllkrug scored Bremen's consolation on a rebound in the 86th.

UNION TESTING NEW GROUND

Union Berlin captain Christopher Trimmel scored his first Bundesliga goal for the team to come from behind and beat Cologne 2-1, consolidating seventh place.

Union had been simply targeting survival in its second-ever season in the Bundesliga.

"Internally we might have to correct the targets," Trimmel said. "And then we'll press the pedal to the last day."

People working at the stadium were given the option of taking a coronavirus test before the game. Participants had to wait 15 minutes for the result from their nasal swab. They were informed with a message to their mobile phone and the result was checked before admittance via a

QR code attached to the person's wrist.

Union spokesman Christian Arbeit said 165 of 280 people entitled to take a test did so, and all test results were negative.

Former Arsenal and Germany defender Shkodran Mustafi scored an own-goal as last-place Schalke moved another step closer to relegation with a 5-0 trouncing at Wolfsburg.

Relegation rival Mainz boosted its chances of survival, beating Freiburg 1-0.

Borussia Dortmund hosted Hertha Berlin later Saturday.