Wales are now just 80 minutes away from a second Grand Slam in three years but skipper Alun Wyn Jones says they still have plenty to work on.
They made it four wins from four in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations as Italy were dispatched 48-7 in Rome – running in seven tries in the process.
Josh Adams, Taulupe Faletau and Ken Owens (twice) all crossed the whitewash as the four-try bonus point was secured before half-time, while George North, Callum Sheedy and Louis Rees-Zammit dotted down after the break.
Wales had talked in the week about producing the perfect 80-minute performance and, despite the convincing final scoreline, Jones claims they’re not there just yet.
“We were probably a bit further away [from the perfect 80 minutes] than we would have liked,” he said. “You’re always searching for that but it was a real focus for us this week.
“We were adamant that if we went a few scores up we weren’t going to get carried away and would constantly trying to refocus and reset.
“We’ll be a bit frustrated with 15 or 20 minutes of that second half but it’s a case of job done and we’ll move on.
“It was nice to see us taking our chances. That was a challenge that was set for us. We’ve had opportunities in other games we haven’t taken and had a couple more tries here that were disallowed. It’s a step in the right direction.”
France are all that stand between Wales and a second clean sweep in the past three Championships but leaving the Stade de France with victory in the Super Saturday finale won’t be a simple task.
Yet Jones says these are the challenges that define rugby careers and he’s relishing a hard week of build-up to that clash.
“We’ve got a Sunday to enjoy with the family when we get back hopefully, then we’ll get into it for France. The focus will shift pretty quickly,” he added.
“It’s clichéd but there’s plenty to work on. These Test weeks are special but next week is going to be special for a bit of a different reason.”
