Hat-trick hero Bale settles the early nerves for Giggs

WHAT was there to be nervous about? Any anxiety Ryan Giggs might have felt ahead of his debut as Wales manager was eased inside two minutes. That kind of thing tends to happen when Gareth Bale is in your team. Giggs chose to start Bale two days after his 7,000-mile trip from Madrid and the Real forward duly delivered. He took only one minute 58 seconds to get the Giggs era off to a flying start and then scored two more goals to seal his first Wales hat-trick and move past Ian Rush at the top of the alltime list of Wales scorers. ‘It is right up there, if it is not the best achievement I have done,’ said Bale, a triple Champions League winner. ‘Anything you do for your country is the pinnacle. I want to carry on scoring and taking this team as far as we can go in major competitions.’ It was difficult not to wonder what might have happened had Bale been fit to face the Republic of Ireland in that fateful World Cup qualifier last October. Giggs had said he would be more nervous here than he ever was as a player for Manchester United, but Bale soon cooled him down. Sam Vokes flicked down a long ball and Bale did the rest, racing past two defenders and firing into the top corner. There was a repeat in the 21st minute when Bale ran clear and wrongfooted goalkeeper Yan Junling, before Sam Vokes flicked in the third. On the stroke of half-time, Bale played a onetwo with Harry Wilson, the Liverpool forward on loan at Hull, who fired into the far corner for a goal on his 21st birthday. Vokes made it five and finally Joe Allen clipped a long pass for Bale to control and score his hat-trick goal.