Ryan Jones’s men led 27-3 at the break and while Wales may have blown away the Americans in the Windy City on the scoreboard, they certainly didn’t in the physicality stakes.
Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies proved a constant menace and raced over for a brace of tries to cap off an excellent tour with Wales.
“It’s been a great tour and a real privilege to play for Wales,” he said. “All of the boys have been great and today’s win makes it a pleasing way to finish the season. I’ve had a great season and now look forward to the future.”
Duncan Jones, who finished the match as skipper after Jones’s departure, said: “All in all I’m pleased with the way things went. There’s a few boys who took a few knocks so some people had to play out of position but they all stepped up to the mark.”
Jones, Robin Sowden Taylor and Tom James all felt the full force of the American tackling as Eddie O’Sullivan’s side showed their intentions from the outset when the big hitting American defence left Wales skipper Ryan Jones gasping for air after running into a brick wall.
Wales quickly regained their composure and took the lead in the ninth minute when Nicky Robinson banged over a simple penalty. The Blues outside doubled the lead two minutes later when USA No8 Nic Johnson was penalised for not releasing the ball in the tackle.
Gavin DeBartalo reduced the arrears with a well struck penalty in the 14th minute but Wales hit back straight away with a well worked try. The ball was flung wide at pace with Scarlets duo Jonathan Davies and Dan Evans sending over fellow Scarlet Mark Jones. With Robinson adding the easy conversion, the visitors held a 13-3 lead.
Jones’s early bang to the head forced Wales into a change in the 20th minute with Blues flanker Sam Warburton coming on to make his international debut, becoming the 1070th player to represent his country.
A minute later another Welsh youngster had something to celebrate. Robinson chipped over the USA backline and with no-one at home, Robinson latched onto the bounce and sent Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies on an unhindered 50m dash to the tryline to set up another converted try to send Wales into a comfortable 20-3 lead.
Wales were forced into another change in the back row when Robin Sowden Taylor was replaced by hooker Richard Hibbard.
Flanker Louis Stanfill was sent to the sin bin for pulling down a maul close to the try-line. Up against seven men, the Welsh pack went for the jugular and destroyed their opposite numbers to force a penalty try, which Robinson converted to give Wales a 27-3 lead with four minutes remaining of the first half.
Alipate Tuilevuka brought the home fans to life when he powered his way through Dwayne Peel’s tackle to score a deserved try after patient build-up work by the forwards who battered away at the Welsh try-line. DeBartalo added the extras to make the score 27-10.
Tom James scored Wales first try of the second half in the 63rd minute after Davies once again stormed into the USA defence. From a ruck the ball was hacked towards the Eagles’ try-line and the Cardiff speedster was the first to react when he chased the ball to score his second international try. Robinson’s last act was to slot the conversion before making way for Dan Biggar.
The Ospreys fly half showed his class when he set up a try for Gareth Cooper by dribbling the ball behind the USA defence. With the ball popping up invitingly for Cooper, he had the simple task of touching the ball down to give Biggar an easy conversion as Wales strolled to a 41-10 lead.
Wales finished the game with a flourish with Davies scoring his second try of the game after the tourists spun the ball wide. The centre still had a bit of work to do but a subtle dummy saw him coast over for another converted try.
USA had the last say when Jonathan Gagiani surged over despite Warburton’s best efforts.
