Six Nations, Italrugby exults in the rain: Wales knocked out at the Olympic Stadium
Six Nations, Italy-Wales 22-15
A cynical and ruthless Italy took advantage, under the rain at the Olympic Stadium, of practically all of Wales’ inattentions and made the match against the Dragons valid for the second day of the Men's Six Nations 2025 22-15 its own. The points lead at the final whistle does not fully tell the story of the gap between the two formations. In fact, the national team controlled rather smoothly from 1' to 70' before a few too many blunders in the final.
In the first 20' of the game the tactical aspect won: the only points came from the pitch, scored by Allan for Italy on 6' and Ben Thomas for Wales on 17'. Shaking things up are provided by Paolo Garbisi and Ange Capuozzo on 22': the former kicks venomously toward the corner, the latter manages to reach the ball in the goal area and smash it without touching the sideline. Allan converts and it goes 10-3.
Before arriving at halftime, the Azzurri score 6 more points, again with Allan, on 30' and 34': every mistake by Wales is systematically punished by the Azzurri fullback and at 40' the score è of 16-3. To wait for the first points scored in the resumption we have to wait until minute 61': another free kick conceded by the Welsh (during the 10' of stop for Josh Adams, punished for a dangerous tackle on Paolo Garbisi), another kick between the posts by the usual Allan, for 19-3.
Italy seemed to sail calmly to success but in the last minutes Wales put all its pride on the field: Wainwright scored in the corner at the 70'corner (unconverted goal), Allan put 14 points back on 74' from the pitch but close to 80' came two yellows, one for Riccioni and one for Lamb, as well as a penalty goal that unexpectedly brought Wales back to -7.
The time to close the comeback è forò very little, Wales mishandles the last possession gifting a penalty to Italy and Paolo Garbisi canò kick out anticipating by a moment the triple whistle: first four points in the standings for the Azzurri in the 2025 edition of the Six Nations, the Welsh have to settle for the defensive bonus but are last with one point to their credit.
