Italy... 30 Wales... 22The romance of the Eternal City lies in the visible traces of a great empire's decline, and on Saturday night the symptoms of a once-great rugby nation in freefall made the Italian capital even more melancholy.
In bars and on street corners Welsh supporters were coming to terms with an ignominious defeat. The spectre of the wooden spoon hung over each limp red dragon flag and every flaccid inflatable daffodil.
The Wales coach, Steve Hansen, is downbeat at the best of times, but the lack of spirit shown by his side on Saturday left him in a grim mood.
"This is a reflection of where we are as a rugby nation."
His fellow Kiwi John Kirwan was exultant: "Italy have proved they are here to stay. They've put in a tremendous amount of hard work."
His men will await Ireland's visit on Saturday with renewed confidence.
Wales's feelings about the coming weekend were summed up by the prop Ben Evans: "Those three words, England in Cardiff, send shivers down your spine."
Evans had no illusions about the scale of this defeat - "We've let ourselves down, our coach down, our families down" - and Hansen had no illusions about what lies ahead. "You have to be hopeless or stupid not to learn from this."
For most of the second half on Saturday, however, Wales displayed all the spine and pizzazz of a jellyfish on mogadon. They turned round three points in arrears having cut the Italy defence to shreds on five occasions, with fine tries for Steve Williams and Tom Shanklin to match Italy's close-range scores from Giampiero de Carli and the novice hooker Carlo Festuccia. But then they turned the molehill into a mountain.
Just when leadership was most needed, in the absence of Stephen Jones, Rob Howley and Scott Quinnell, the captain, Colin Charvis, was lacking. Substituted with 15 minutes remaining, he appears to be considering his future. "I will have to see how I bounce back," was his gloomy assessment.
In a match between two sides desperate for success, Italy probably needed the win more, after 14 championship defeats out of 15. "Now or never" read one newspaper headline on Saturday morning and the uphill struggle faced by Italian rugby was reflected in the rows of empty seats.
Italy have always been combative, but composure and skill have often been lacking. On Saturday, however, the reformed half-back partnership of Diego Dominguez and Alessandro Troncon, together for the 59th time, provided stability. Brought in after Ramiro Pez's injury, Dominguez did not so much control the game as provide a service for an exuberant three-quarter line.
All three Italy tries, however, came from the front row of De Carli, Festuccia and Ramiro Martinez, who drove hard around the fringes, an area where Kirwan had told his side to target the Welsh.
Troncon set up the try for Phillips to put Italy 10 points clear, after which Wales re-entered the game only once the lock Cristian Bezzi had been sent to the sin-bin.
Guardian Service
ITALY: Vaccari (Calvisano); Mauro Bergamasco (Treviso), Stoica (Castres), Raineri (Calvisano), D Dallan (Treviso); Dominguez (Stade Francais), Troncon (Montferrand, capt); De Carli (Calvisano), Festuccia (GRAN Parma), Martinez (Treviso), Bezzi (Viadana), Bortolami (Padua), De Rossi (Calvisano), Persico (Viadana), Phillips (Viadana). Replacements: Mirko Bergamasco (Padua) for Ranieri (28 mins), Perugini (Calvisano) for Martinez (59, 61 mins).
Sin-bin: Bezzi (76 mins).
WALES: R Williams (Cardiff); M Jones (Llanelli), Shanklin (Saracens), L Davies (Llanelli), G Thomas (Bridgend); Harris (Cardiff), Peel (Llanelli); I Thomas (Llanelli), M Davies (Pontypridd), Evans (Swansea), Sidoli (Pontypridd), S Williams (Northampton), Owen (Pontypridd), M Williams (Cardiff), Charvis (Swansea, capt). Replacements: G Williams (Bridgend) for M Davies (51 mins), Watkins (Llanelli) for L Davies (57 mins), G Thomas (Bath) for Charvis (69 mins), Sweeney (Pontypool) for M Jones (76 mins).
Referee: J Jutge (France).