Italy narrowly beat Wales in the WXV2

'Hannah Jones had failed to play in the previous three games for the Reds as a result of injury, and it was hoped that her presence would have boosted the spirits of Ioan Cunningham's squad. Unfortunately that was not the case.

Jones was informed shortly before kick-off that Hannah Bluck would be her partner in the middle following a late injury to Kerin Lake.

Ioan Cunnigham emphasized during the week that it was important to remember that his team had beaten Le Azzurre in their last two games in the Six Nations Championship and the hope from a Welsh perspective was that the confidence of the Italians would have received a knock following their a 19-0 defeat against Scotland in their opening game in the Championship.

Before the match in Cape Town, the two countries had gone head to head 17 times with each team winning 8 times - with one equal result - and this time The Italy opened the scoring as captain Elisa Giordano landed easily following a powerful skirmish by her fellow forwards.

The Red Shirts controlled possession and possession during the first period - and after Italy's try line was under siege - Hannah Bluck dived over the whitewash to level things with five minutes of the opening forty minutes. after.

Half Time – Wales 5 Italy 5

After two minutes of the second half, Sisilia Tuipulotu came on in place of Donna Rose - but eight minutes later the Italians took the lead for the second time after Beatrice Rigoni's penalty from 30 yards split the posts - and that kick proved to be the difference between the teams in the end.

There were very few opportunities created by Hannah Jones' team to hit back and although they pressed late - there were too many small mistakes in their play to claim the victory.

As the clock turned red, the Welsh had an easy chance to secure an equal result - but the decision was to reject the kick and go for the win. Although they threatened the try line constantly in the time of the amen, the Italian defense managed to prevent Keira Bevan from landing after she crossed the whitewash - and as a result Le Azzurre were celebrating at the final whistle.

The Welsh had another substantial disappointment during the afternoon as Lleucu George left the field in the last minutes, with a painful knee injury.

Despite the loss, there was a memorable moment four minutes before the final whistle - as Alaw Pyrs joined his sister Gwenllian - on the international field for the first time.

The Welsh's second disappointing result from the Championship then. They will have one more chance to secure victory next Friday, when they return to Athlone Stadium to take on Japan.

Result: Wales 5 Italy 8

After the final whistle, Hannah Jones, Captain of Wales, said: "Once again we failed to take our chances when we were in their twenty-two - but we didn't give up at all and we have to take confidence from that. We have to thank the fans who have traveled all the way here and we have to improve everything before facing Japan in a week's time."

Head Coach of Wales, Ioan Cunningham added: “We are all extremely disappointed with the result. We had a lot of possession and we had a chance to take the win very late on - but unfortunately we failed to do so. "We don't have much time until we face Japan next week - but everyone knows we have a lot of work to do before then."