Italy 8-25 Wales: Sam Costelow kicks Wales U20 off to big win in Cardiff

A KICKING masterclass from Sam Costelow ensured Wales U20s coasted to a comfortable opening Six Nations victory over Italy.

Much has been made of the potential of the Scarlets playmaker, and he was majestic at the Arms Park with an 18-point haul from the kicking tee, while his game management was on point.

Head coach Ioan Cunningham, who recently replaced Gareth Williams, will have been pleased with his side's display, but will know they'll have to go up a few notches to compete with England, France or Ireland.

Wales were extremely rusty in certain areas of their games, but when they were able to get into their rhythm they looked dangerous, which will have encouraged Cunningham.

This was the first competitive game of rugby many of Wales' young guns had played since March 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic having stripped the country's up and coming stars of rugby. With that in mind it wasn't a surprise to see the hosts struggle in the opening exchanges of this tense affair.

Italy started strongly by dominating the opening ten minutes, with Wales struggling to cope with their driving lineout.

Both Garyn Phillips and Lorenzo Cannone were soon sent to the sin bin for their part in a scuffle, but the Italian forwards were utterly dominant. And they got their just rewards when tighthead Ion Neculai powered over from short range to put Italy ahead.

Wales hit back immediately, claiming points in their first foray into the Italy 22. Having won a penalty Costelow pushed them deep into the Italy 22, with the Wales forwards pushing them over the line with ease and forcing the referee to award the hosts a penalty try.

Wales had finally found their rhythm with scrumhalf Harri Williams and openside flanker Harri Deaves outstanding. Costelow converted two penalties to give Wales a 13-5 lead at the interval.

The hosts began the second half far better than they had the first and they came close to claiming their second try when a terrific cross-kick from Costelow was spilt forward by Carrick McDonough with the try line at his mercy.

Unlike the first half, the Wales pack held the upper hand with their driving lineout forcing the Azzurri to cough up numerous penalties with Costelow extending Wales' lead to 11 points with another successful penalty.

But Italy refused to throw in the towel with their scrum-half Manfredi Albanese successful with a penalty, which also resulted in Deaves getting sent to the sin bin for preventing the No.9 from taking a quick tap.

The control from Wales' half-backs were excellent with Costelow going pack in the pocket to execute a terrific drop-goal. And the former Leicester man kept rubbing salt into Italian wounds with a further two penalties, one a magnificent penalty from 45m on an angle.

Italy thew the kitchen sink at Wales in the closing stages of this game but the Welsh defence remained firm.

By STEFFAN THOMAS

 

Italy…………8pts

Tries: Ioni 16 

Penalties: Albanese 54

ITALY: Marin 4 (Fusari 69, 3); Flavio 5 (Marruchini 65, 5), Miondcello 5 (Schiabel 63, 5), Drago 6, Gesi 7; Ferarrin 6, Albanese 6; Rizzoli 5 (Spagnolomirco 53, 6), Di Bartolomeo 6, Ione 7 (Hasa 53, 6), Ferrari 5, Piantella 6, Andreani 6, Vinicent 6, Cannone 6

Not used: Matteo, Riccardo, Giovanni, Alessandro, Nicolo, Fabrizio

Wales ……25pts

Tries: Penalty 17 

Penalties: Costelow 35, 39, 51, 68, 71 

Drop-goals: Costelo 65