Free-flowing Welsh show Hansen leaves solid foundation

CARDIFF - As endings go, Wales 44-10 rout of Italy in the Six Nations yesterday was not bad. Steve Hansen bowed out as the only outgoing Wales coach to be cheered. But it was not just a send-off.

It is also a beginning. The Wales players, to a man, ushered in the new era under Mike Ruddock in style.

And when asked if his successor should be excited at what he was inheriting, Hansen said: "Well, I'd be bloody excited if I was getting hold of these players.

"I think in another 12 months we will see some fantastic players coming out of the forwards."

But there were some pretty fantastic players on the Millennium Stadium pitch yesterday, all of whom contributed mightily to the six-try rout.

John Kirwan bemoaned the high number of missed tackles and the unacceptable turnover count as the key factors that undermined his and Italy's best intentions.

"That was our worst performance of the Six Nations. It is not a great way to finish," he said.

He still gave a great deal of credit to Wales, who delivered what they had promised - an exciting open game. It was not a flawless display - the set piece still creaked and the line-out drew groans from the fervent fans - but it was still spectacular. It was exciting even when Wales were not scoring tries.

Mark Taylor's 36th-minute effort was disallowed because he knocked on over the line but the build-up was electric, with the hugely talented lock Michael Owen scattering all before him before offloading to Shane Williams, who then found Taylor.

But by then Wales had already run two tries past the bemused and hapless Italians. The home side had clearly decided to impose their own style of play - fast and wide - rather than wait to see what Italy had to offer.

The Italians were generally over-eager and intemperate in the loose, which presented Colin Charvis and Martyn Williams with some fast foraging opportunities and they hoovered up ball after ball.

It needed video confirmation before Shane Williams was awarded Wales' opening try, but there were no doubts when Rhys Williams scored his first after half an hour. It had still needed a brilliant break around a scrum by Gareth Cooper, which peeled back the Italian cover like a tin of anchovies. Gareth Thomas took it on, drew the defence, then fed Williams, who raced over in the right-hand corner.

It was Wales' wide game that everyone had come to watch, and they did not disappoint. They were rewarded with a little piece of Welsh rugby history when the ball found its way into the clutches of Thomas who scored his 34th try for Wales, thus surpassing the previous record, held by Ieuan Evans.

The Dragons were rampant. Steam, smoke and all sorts of vapours were leaving their nostrils as they scented a massacre.

Five minutes later Tom Shanklin, on the pitch for 30 seconds, was put over for Wales's fourth. Then the Williams boys, Rhys and Shane, struck within a couple of minutes of each other. The 72,500 crowd went wild, baying for more.

The fact that Italy had managed a try of their own amid the mayhem, when centre Andrea Masi found a way through, was an irrelevance.

- INDEPENDENT