As Wales fell to yet another defeat – this time 22-15 against Italy in Rome – Sportin Wales picks through the rubble to see what can be learnt in defeat.

Late Withdrawals Bite

There had been a few rumours that Liam Williams’ knee had been giving him issues prior to the 2025 Six Nations and, after making it through the first match in Paris, was not fit enough to play a part in Rome.

Blair Murray replaced Williams in the Wales starting XV, while another more costly withdrawal hit Warren Gatland’s side hard.

Dafydd Jenkins was ill on the morning of the match and had to be replaced in the XV by Freddie Thomas, with Cardiff’s Teddy Williams taking his place on the bench. The problem for Wales was their lineout.

With Jenkins and Adam Beard – both Wales’s regular lineout callers – now out of the team, Thomas and Will Rowlands were relied on to call the lineout despite not doing it regularly for either of their clubs.

The aforementioned Teddy Williams could have been an option to leapfrog Thomas and come straight into the starting XV, as he calls Cardiff’s lineout in the United Rugby Championship.

Italy spotted this issue, and the Welsh lineout was put under enormous pressure throughout the match. While Wales did not have much of their own ball turned over, Italy were able to disrupt things enough that the visitors were not able to execute a strike play from a lineout in the first half.

Welsh Maul Works

When Teddy Williams did come on, at 57 minutes, the improvement in the Welsh lineout was obvious. As Wales mounted a comeback that ultimately proved to be too little, too late, their main weapon was their rolling maul, marshalled excellently by Williams.

With regular captain and starting hooker Dewi Lake out injured for this first part of the tournament, Evan Lloyd has deputised and, while excellent in the loose, has been less than secure at set pieces.

Dragons’ Elliot Dee came on at 44 minutes and, like Williams, was able to bring some solidity.

The Welsh lineout eventually brought an Aaron Wainwright score, a penalty try and two yellow cards in the closing stages of the contest as Italy finished with 13 players.

Blair Murray Impresses

While Wales struggled to replace Jenkins in the XV, Liam Williams’ replacement, Blair Murray, had a positive performance.

On an wet and windy afternoon, both sides went to the skies more often than not, aiming to put pressure on the respective back threes.

Murray, along with Josh Adams and Tom Rogers either side him, was excellent. Often taking high balls under extreme pressure, Murray show composure to skip away from on-rushing tacklers, making the most eye-catching break of the match from a Welsh perspective.

Wales have two weeks to decide who will be in the 15 shirt for their home match with Ireland and, on Saturday’s performance, Murray did his selection chances no harm.

Right Strategy, Wrong Execution

There was much talk during and after the defeat to Italy about Wales’s kick-first strategy, with a number of fans frustrated by the over-eagerness to go to the boot.

However, considering the conditions, a kicking strategy was the right one. Twice in the first half, Josh Adams could have scored from kicks through, first a cross kick from Ben Thomas and second a grubber from Tomos Williams. Had the ball found Adams’ palms rather than his finger tips, Wales could have gone into halftime level.

Where Wales went wrong was often their execution. While Italy’s kicks – marshalled so well by Paolo Garbisi and Martin Page-Relo – always put pressure on the Welsh receiver to take the ball cleanly and then deal with a chasing tacklers, Wales’s were often wayward or too long to put any real stress on the Italian back three.

Things improved when Ospreys flyhalf Dan Edwards came on, but that was partly because of Italian ill-discipline.

Dan Edwards Must Start In Cardiff

Some eye-brows were raised when Gatland named his team on Thursday. With Owen Watkin out injured, Eddie James replaced him in the starting XV. This meant that Wales were essentially playing three inside centres against Italy.

Eddie James is a 12 for Scarlets and lined up as such, while Nick Tompkins – more often than not a 12 for Saracens – has plenty of experience at outside centre.

The issue for Wales came with Ben Thomas at flyhalf. Thomas is a playmaker at Cardiff, but nearly always at inside centre. His ability is obvious there but Gatland seems to want to mould him into an international flyhalf.

Such is the pressure on each game, right now, Wales need players who can slot into roles that are second nature to them, not learn things on the fly at the highest level of the game.

One can argue that throwing 21-year-old Dan Edwards into start his first match against back-to-back champions Ireland is just as difficult, but Wales need to take some risks in order to land a blow or two on the visitors.

Dan Edwards is worth that risk.

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