George North scored two tries as Wales moved up to second in the NatWest 6 Nations table with a 38-14 win over Italy at Principality Stadium.
Warren Gatland had rung the changes ahead of the game, with James Davies given his first cap and Taulupe Faletau captaining the side for the first time.
But it was the return of North that was the most significant change, with the winger crossing once in the first half and then again in the second secure the Welsh bonus point.
Man of the match Hadleigh Parkes had opened the scoring, while Cory Hill went over early in the second half, and the five points take Wales one clear of England and France with one game to go.
Wales made the perfect start to the game with two tries in the first six minutes. The first came as Parkes crashed through the tackle of Tommaso Castello and over for the simple finish.
And they looked as if they might run away with it when North continued his record of scoring in every game he has played against Italy. It came after Owen Watkin had picked off a pass in midfield, sprinted into the 22 and then found North outside him.
Gareth Anscombe converted both tries for a 14-0 lead with Italy shell-shocked.
The Azzurri needed to collect themselves and they responded perfectly. Having got into Welsh territory for almost the first time, Matteo Minozzi showed his quick feet after a clever dummied kick by Marcello Violi. He rounded Liam Williams and then had the strength to hold off the cover tackle and dot down. Tommaso Allan converted to cut the deficit to seven points.
Wales almost had a third try of the game when Gareth Davies collected Steff Evans’ clever chip and dotted down but after consultation with the TMO, it was clear that the scrum-half was a metre offside.
Wales stretched their lead back to two scores with an Anscombe penalty and they were pushing for another score on the stroke of half-time.
However a dangerous tackle by Williams on Minozzi saw the Welsh full-back sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes.
Leading 17-7 at the break, Wales made light work of being a man down to score their third try, Hill bursting over from short range after spotting a gap in the Italian defence.
But just as they were set to get back to a full complement, Wales lost scrum-half Davies to the bin for an intentional knock-on.
Italy needed a score but they could not find a way through.
Instead it was Wales who came close to another try with Parkes stopped just short of the line.
That simply delayed the inevitable though, as North grabbed his second, powering over from close range to seal the bonus point. Leigh Halfpenny converted to make it 31-7.
The home side were rampant by this point, and Justin Tipuric got the fifth as Parkes fed him with the wide pass. Halfpenny converted from out wide once again.
Italy deserved something more out of the game, and they got a second try with five minutes to go when Federico Ruzza gave a delightful delayed pass for Mattia Bellini to finish. Replacement Carlo Canna, who had put Ruzza into space, converted from out wide.
However with two minutes to go, they lost Tommaso Benvenuti to a yellow card for an intentional knock-on, similar to Davies’ effort earlier in the game.
Wales will now welcome France on the final weekend looking to secure second place in the table, while Italy will host Scotland aiming for a first win of the campaign.
