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Wales take first win in the 2024 Women's Six Nations on final day
Wales and Italy kicked off Super Saturday at the Principality Stadium with the home side recording their first win of the 2024 competition with a 22-20 scoreline.
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In the first half, one try apiece from both sides through Carys Phillips and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi followed in quick succession, and the only points that separated the two sides at the break were those provided by the boot of Beatrice Rigoni.
Gwenllian Pyrs scored first in the second half, but the scores were levelled in the 55th minute when Francesca Granzotto crossed for Italy.
Emma Stevanin put the visitors ahead, but Sisilia Tuipulotu’s try complemented by Lleucu George’s conversion sealed the much-needed win for Ioan Cunningham’s side.
The result means that Wales will still finish at the bottom of the table with Italy moving up to fourth, but Italy’s position may well change by the end of the afternoon.
In addition, Wales, who competed in WXV 1 last year, will face Rugby Europe Championship winners Spain in a play-off match, held in Wales in June (date TBC), to determine whether they will be in WXV 2 or WXV 3 this autumn.
It was the first time the Welsh women’s team have played a standalone Test match at the Principality, and they had a record crowd of 10,592, beating the 8,862-strong record for a women’s standalone match which was set the year prior at Cardiff Arms Park.
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Italy’s Lucia Gai became only the second Italian woman to reach 100 caps for her country when she came off the bench in the second half to replace Sara Seye.
Wales enjoyed early possession and looked as if they were going to score in the first five minutes as they worked through the phases, but the Italian defence stood firm, eventually forcing a knock-on.
Wales struck first, in what was their first try in the opening quarter of any match they had played in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations, as the ball travelled from Phillips to Alisha Butchers at the front of the lineout before it was returned to the hooker to cross in the corner, taking Italy by surprise in the process.
Within seconds of the restart, Italy got themselves on the scoreboard as Alyssa D’Incà ripped the ball in contact to win the turnover before setting Ostuni Minuzzi free to dance down the touchline to level the scores, and Rigoni’s conversion put them ahead after 18 minutes.
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George set Wales up well with an excellent kick to the corner after the half-hour mark, but the throw not being straight gave possession back to Italy, however, the visitors subsequently knocked the ball on when taking the lineout which followed. Wales missed another opportunity when they gave away the scrum penalty in the red zone.
Rigoni extended Italy’s lead by a further three points after Wales gave away a penalty in front of the posts for not rolling away. The visitors headed into the break with a 10-5 lead.
Wales had the first word in the second half to level the score after three minutes as Pyrs crossed the line from close range with a fantastic carry, and Keira Bevan’s subsequent conversion put the home side back ahead.
Their lead was bolstered in the 51st minute as Bevan added three points to their tally, taking their advantage to five points.
This lead remained for only four minutes as Italy responded with a slick attacking phase from the Italian backs setting up Granzotto to cross in the corner, but Rigoni was unable to convert so the scores sat level.
The Italian backs added flare to proceedings once more as they went back ahead in the final ten minutes as Stevanin added their third, again unconverted to leave the score in the balance with only five points the difference.
George was monumental for Wales, kicking multiple impressive 50-22 kicks to shift the momentum, but the set piece failed them yet again and they were unable to convert in the red zone.
Wales did manage to string together a positive passage of play in the phases that followed to work to within metres, and an Italian knock-on fell into the hands of Evans who crossed the line.
It was deemed not to be a try, but Wales had the scrum on five metres from which superstar Tuipulotu muscled over the line under the posts with the decisive try to level the scores before George added the conversion to put them ahead.
Try-scorer Stevanin was shown a yellow card in the dying seconds for making head contact, and Wales held on to take the memorable victory at the Principality Stadium.
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