Tom Shanklin was the hero with four tries as Wales overpowered Romania 66-7 at the Millennium Stadium.
Shanklin served notice of his intent, throwing a sublime dummy to cross over in the fifth minute befoe adding one more before the break and two in the second half.
Rhys Williams, Gethin Jenkins, Gavin Henson, Stephen Jones, Gavin Jones and Gareth Cooper also went over as Romania’s found they had no answer to the free-flowing rugby from the home side.
Five of these ries came in the opening 30 minutes – against a Romanian side who needed an intercept for their only points of an evening under a closed Stadium roof.
“I couldn’t ask for any more than that,” four-try hero Shanklin said afterwards. “We got a lot of ball going forward – which is what we’ve been looking for – and we managed to play some great rugby all round.
“It was a good team effort and we managed to score some good tries,” added Gareth Thomas. “We really clicked as a team. There were some great individual performances and some impressive tries out there.”
It was Thomas’ first win as Captain, and he was glad to rid himself of the unwanted record. “I came into the match with a 100 percent record – two losses out of two – so I’m relieved to come out on top.
“Next week’s match against New Zealand is obviously going to be a couple of steps up on tonight, but that’s what you play rugby for. We’re confident and we’re going to give it a real crack.”
Thomas made three breaks in the opening five minutes, giving his side the position to set up the game’s first try for centre Shanklin, who threw a barely disguised dummy and jogged over the line.
The five-pointer increased Welsh confidence – and their error rate – before right winger Rhys Williams joined the line at a perfect angle to make the score 14-0 after 14 minutes.
Fly-half Stephen Jones added to his two conversions with a third of his own try, before prop Gethin Jenkins bulldozed his way over the line for his first Test try on the half-hour mark.
Shanklin, who is battling with Sonny Parker for a place in starting lineup against the All Blacks, scored his second after some great work from winger Hal Luscombe and a one-sided match was in danger of becoming a tedious romp.
The Welsh players began running the ball from everywhere and it cost them almost straight away. A loose pass fell into the hands of winger Ioan Teodorescu and he popped the ball up to scrum-half Lucian Sirbu for the visitors’ first try, but they went into the halftime break trailing 7-35 and with the game already out of their grasp.
The Romanians began well in the second half, but the home side ground their way back on to the attack, and centre Gavin Henson – a two-try hero against the Springboks last weekend – opened his account.
Both coaches began clearing their benches before the hour mark, and it was the Romanian reserves who made the most of their opportunity. Replacement hooker Razvan Mavrodin was a man inspired as his side stemmed the Welsh tide for 10 minutes.
It was never going to last, though, and a Romanian turnover on the Wales 22m line cost them dearly. Quick ball – including a brilliant flick pass from Henson – gave Shanklin an inch of space on the lefthand touchline and he took it to complete his hat-trick, and had his fourth barely two minutes later.
The Romanian forwards refused to give up, though, and spent five minutes hammering on the home side’s tryline. Some terrific work from replacement flanker Martyn Williams and a lineout steal by the veteran Gareth Llewellyn saved their side’s blushes, but only a close offside call prevented Romanian winger Teodorescu from scoring a deserved try.
Wales went back on the attack, and some skilful work from Gareth Cooper and Martyn Williams put backrower Dafydd Jones over for his side’s ninth try.
Cooper made it a round 10 with the final act of the match and 35,000 Wales fans were celebrating a 59-point victory.
Wales: G Thomas (Toulouse, capt), R Williams (Blues), T Shanklin (Blues), G Henson (Ospreys), H Luscombe (Dragons), S Jones (Clermont-Auvergne), D Peel (Scarlets), G Jenkins (Blues), M Davies (Neath), A Jones (Ospreys), G Llewellyn (Narbonne), L Charteris (Dragons), D Jones (Scarlets), C Charvis (Newcastle), M Owen (Dragons)
Replacements: S Jones (Dragons), D Jones (Ospreys), J Thomas (Ospreys), M Williams (Blues), G Cooper (Dragons), C Sweeney (Dragons), M Taylor (Scarlets)
Romania: V Maftei (Aurillac), V Ghioc (Dinamo Bucuresti), C Sauan (Rugby Rovigo), R Gontineac (Aurillac), I Teodorescu (U Cluj), I Tofan (Metro Racing), L Sirbu (Metro Racing), P Balan (Biarritz Olimpique), B Zebega (Steaua Bucuresti), M Socaciu (Rugby Rovigo), F Tatu (Steaua Bucuresti), C Petre (Tarbes), C Mersoiu (Perigueux), MA Tudori (Perigueux), A Petrache (Beziers, capt)
Replacements: R Mavrodin (Tarbes), B Balan (Bordeaux Begles), V Ursache (Contor Zennerarad), G Oprisoror (Perpignan), I Andrei (Steaua Bucharest), F Dobre (Dinamo Bucharest), I Dimofte (Contor Zennerarad)
Referee: Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Scorers:
WALES:
Tries:
Shanklin (4)
R Williams
S Jones
Jenkins
Henson
D Jones
Cooper
Conversions:
S Jones (7)
Sweeney
ROMANIA:
Tries:
Sirbu
Conversions:
Tofan
