Pool D / Wales 27 Italy 15: Wales may be through to the World Cup quarter-finals, but they know the tournament has just begun.
Dafydd Jones, the Llanelli flanker whose second-half try secured victory here, has been on losing sides against England twice this year and was realistic.
"England and New Zealand are the two best sides in the world and it will be like climbing two mountains in the same week," he said. "We are a young side that have gone through some difficult times but we did ourselves justice today and hopefully this World Cup will be the platform for more days like these."
Of course, if Wales beat the All Blacks on Sunday they will not be likely to face England in the quarter-finals, but that is not a realistic aspiration. The final Pool D game in Sydney will be about damage limitation before the trip to Brisbane and England.
There were intoxicating moments in this win but Wales's most fervent fans would probably settle for a respectable quarter-final exit. And celebrations in the Welsh camp were muted yesterday with the news that the loose-head prop Duncan Jones will return home after breaking his right leg in a first-half tackle on the Italy centre Cristian Stoica.
Jones fell awkwardly and also received an unintentional kick on the head from the wing Nicola Mazzucato. He will be replaced by his Neath-Swansea Ospreys team-mate Paul James, the 21-year-old who made his Welsh debut against Romania in the summer and will fly straight to Sydney today.
The loss of Jones is a big blow to Wales, whose scrum stood up well to Italy after a pallid showing up front against Tonga a week earlier. In a committed display, with some clinical finishing, the most revealing statistic was Wales's 174 tackles, 106 made in the first half when Italy dominated territory.
The Wales coach Steve Hansen's decision to play the adventurous outhalf Ceri Sweeney ahead of the more conservative Stephen Jones paid dividends. Jones was brought on for the last 30 minutes, essentially to shut up shop, but Sweeney had made two excellent first-half tries for Mark Jones and Sonny Parker, which forged the victory.
The first came after nine minutes when the number 10 fired out a quick pass from a ruck for Martyn Williams and Duncan Jones to work the wing over in the corner. The second, right on half time, saw Sweeney make a decisive break before helping Iestyn Harris give Parker the space to dart over near the posts.
Harris and Parker formed an effective centre pairing which helps give the game more width, and the captain Colin Charvis, ineffectual against the Tongans, shone in the back row alongside Wales's man of the match Martyn Williams and hard-running Dafydd Jones.
In a sweet moment for the pack, Daffyd Jones scored a pushover try after Wales had driven the Italian pack backwards from a lineout - an indignity the Welsh had suffered in the same spot against Tonga.
Italy looked drained and could reply only with five penalties from New Zealand-born stand-off Rima Wakarua, who was desperately slow to give his threequarters any sort of service.
Later a relieved Hansen said: "The light can be seen at the end of the tunnel even if the tunnel is some way away. We'll enjoy this moment before measuring ourselves against the very best and we're not ready to pack our bags just yet."
Guardian Service
WALES: K Morgan (R Williams, 23); M Jones, S Parker, Harris, G Thomas; C Sweeney (S Jones, 50), D Peel (G Cooper, 56); C Charvis (capt), M Williams, D Jones, G Llewellyn (R Sidoli, 50), B Cockbain (J Thomas, 71), A Jones, R McBryde, D Jones (N Jenkins, 25).
ITALY: G Canale (F Mazzariol, 71); N Mazzucato, C Stoica, A Masi, D Dallan; R Wakarua, A Troncon (capt); S Parisse, A Persico (S Palmer, 63), A De Rossi (M Bergamasco, 57), S Dellape (C Bezzi, 68), C Checchinato (M Phillips, 49), M Castrogiovanni, F Ongaro (C Festuccia, 47), A Lo Cicero (S Perugini, 68).
Referee: A Cole (Australia).
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