Lewis’ charges scored five tries in the impressive win in Cape Town, following a narrow, 17-23 loss to South Africa Schools in their first game.
Italy had beaten South Africa Schools A convincingly on Day One of the U19 International Series and brought a stern challenge to the young Welsh side, but Wales were able to keep the ball for longer periods in this second match and when they did, they displayed some impressive skills in attack.
New cap, Dragons wing Joe Goodchild was first on the score board after two minutes with a try converted by outside half Ben Jones. Italy came back with a try of their own but Wales prop Harri Dobbs and wing Ryan Conbeer touched down with tries, the first converted by Jones and the second by full-back Will Talbot Davies to take the score to 21-5.
Replacement, kicker Phil Jones swapped penalties with his Italian counterpart before the break to take the half-time score to 24-8. Italy, who had previously beaten South Africa Schools A, were not about to give up and they came out strong in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring a converted try to reduce the deficit to 24-15, but from then on it was all Wales. Solihull School’s Will Talbot-Davies scored a try and Ospreys, Gowerton School and Swansea outside half Phil Jones scored a try and slotted a penalty and two conversions.
Lewis said, “It was a pleasing result and good to get reward from the effort the boys have put in during this tour. We managed to put some good facets of play together against a very competitive and physical side.
“It was a very physical game but the boys stood up to the onslaught and for periods of time we had a lot of territory.
“It’s always our ambition to score tries and when we kept the ball for periods of time and added width to our game we gave the Italians problems and produced some good attacking rugby.
“South Africa Schools A comfortably beat England so that shows the standard of South African rugby and shows we will again have to be at our best to get the performance we want on Saturday.
“It would be nice to finish off the tour with a positive result but more than anything, it’s important the boys take their chance to get the most out of the experience with Under 20 rugby on the horizon next season.”
