Wales were not at their free-flowing best on Saturday night in Rome, but skipper Jonathan Davies insists momentum is everything after they made it 11 Test wins on the spin.
The boot of Dan Biggar saw Wales open up a 12-0 lead in the first half at the Stadio Olimpico before Italy came roaring back.
And it took late tries from Owen Watkin and Josh Adams to seal the victory, equalling Wales’ record for most in a row in their history.
After two tough trips to Paris and Rome, Wales are two from two and made ten changes in Rome so the challenge of England in Round Three will surely be a tougher one.
“I think there was a lot of frustration in that performance, but I can’t fault the boys’ efforts,” said Davies, who won his 70th cap on Saturday.
“Probably that accuracy in the final quarter – to turn that pressure into points -was what we lacked today. We came to a difficult place to play rugby and we got a result.
“We probably expected to be a bit more accurate, be smarter with how we use the ball, but we can take things out of the game and our focus changes now to a big game coming up in two weeks.
“I think it’s great to show our strength in depth in the squad and the confidence that the coaching staff has in this group. The boys’ effort was great. Unfortunately Tom (Young) didn’t get over in the corner at the end – that would’ve been nice to cap his game off. We’re in a good place at the moment and we just have to keep this momentum going.
“We’ll probably have to be a lot better than we were today – that’s the challenge that’s in front of us. I think the group are very excited by that and it’s going to be a tasty one for sure.”
Head coach Warren Gatland swiftly turned his attention to the visit of England in Round Three at Principality Stadium.
“There’s lots of things we need to improve for England,” he added.
“The lineout was a bit concerning; we didn’t have enough tempo at lineout time; there was a lot of lineouts off the mark; we kept having to step away and Italy were closing that space down pretty quickly.
“We all need to improve in lots of areas to try and beat England – they’re a pretty good side at the moment. If we play like that against England it could be embarrassing.
“There’s a few guys out there who haven’t had a lot of rugby, so we probably didn’t have as much momentum and tempo as we would’ve liked in that area.”
