Steve Tandy called Wales’ first Six Nations victory for over three years “massively emotional” as their 15-game losing streak in the competition came to an end.
Wales overcame Italy 31-17 in Cardiff for a first Six Nations win since March 11, 2023 – 1,099 days ago.
Aaron Wainwright’s first-half double, plus tries from Dewi Lake and Dan Edwards, saw Wales surge into a scarcely believable 31-0 lead after 47 minutes.
Italy fought back with three tries to produce some late anxiety for Wales fans, but it was not enough to spoil the Principality Stadium party.
“It was a massively emotional day, a win in the Six Nations has been a long time coming,” Tandy said after claiming his second success from nine matches as Wales head coach.
“I am overwhelmed with pride by what this group delivered. I’ve always said it’s never been a question of desire, physicality or work ethic in this group.
“I just think it’s getting them to understand how far they can go with the work ethic and physically they’ve got.
“I’m not going to lie, it did feel like a long last 10 minutes and that did seem to drag out a little bit.”
Wales were blown away by England and France in their opening two games.
But there were definite green shoots during narrow defeats to Scotland and Ireland, and Tandy had called on his players to finish the campaign with a flourish.
He said: “England was a massive lesson for us, we didn’t impose anything of what we wanted to do and panicked with our discipline.
“Since then I believe the boys have grown every week, have got a bit of confidence, and had a bit of cohesion as a team.
“It’s a good day to enjoy – it’s been a while – but we have to keep growing.”
Wales captain Lake said: “We hope that we have restored some faith in the jersey and into what this group can do.
“That performance sums up how we have grown in the last two to three weeks.
“The scoreline was similar to half-time against Scotland and to come out and score first, to never give up on the moment, to stay switched on and stay in every play shows how we have learnt.”
Italy were within touching distance of creating a first for themselves after upsetting Scotland and England earlier in the tournament.
They had never won three games in the same Six Nations campaign, but history was to elude them.
Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada said: “We saw a big improvement from Wales against Ireland and we knew they had the opportunity to put everything out there to get victory.
“It was a big game from Wales and they never gave up.
“The win was maybe bigger for them. Their heart and physicality was bigger than us in the first half.
“We did better in the second half, but that first half defined the game.”
