THE Italian Federation's claims that 35,000 spectators would turn up at Rome's Olympic stadium to watch Wales, was an example if how hype and hyperbole have combined to present an image of rugby in the country as vibrant and virile.
In the event, the crowd barely reached the 3,500 mark and far from roaring the lion-hearted "Azzurri" to victory, as the Italy coach Georges Coste had predicted on Friday, the sparse crowd meant the splendour of the ground was in marked contrast to the funereal atmosphere the match was played in.
Far from staking an irresistible claim to a place in the Five Nations championship, Italy showed that for all the gusto and the elan that they employ in the build-up to internationals and in animated press conferences afterwards, they are tactically naive and are stylistically stuck in the dinosaur age.
A popular misconception is that the Italians are similar to the French in their approach. Italy are wedded to a slow set-piece game and are heavily dependent on the boot of the outside-half Diego Dominguez. There is a cynicism to their game as England discovered in the 1991 World Cup. Rugby has changed but Italy are standing still as Coste half-acknowledged afterwards.
The only solace for Wales after a sterile 80 minutes was that they had avoided another embarrassing defeat. They laboured to make their obvious superiority count and having been 13 points ahead after 20 minutes had to come from behind to win in the last quarter.
The Welsh players and management had complained of fatigue and burn-out all season because of a congested fixture list which has meant an average of two games a week. It is not a surfeit of matches players are suffering from the claims hardly square with the contention of the Wales centre Scott Gibbs that so little happens on a rugby pitch that .hat he is more bored than tired but an excess of training.
The Welsh players are mentally jaded. On the few occasions when they raised their game on Saturday, they revealed pace and power behind the scrum. The cent Gareth Thomas scored two cries and justified his move from the wing to the centre, but overall Wales were more concerned with routine and ritual than with enterprise.
That they won in the end was arguably down to a referee's error. Italy's only try came after the South African official Carl Spannenberg had missed a knock on in the build-up and he then failed to notice that the hooker Carlo Orlandi had grounded the ball after Dominguez had charged down Neil Jenkins's attempt at clearance.
Dominguez's fifth penalty briefly gave Italy the lead 22-21 with 17 minutes to go. Wales were stirred by the score and immediately replied with charging runs by Gibbs and Thomas. Victory was greeted with relief rather than elation and expression on the faces of the Wales players afterwards as they trudged about trying to find where the after-match function was being held, said it all.
"I've probably got to play for Bridgend against Leicester on Tuesday," said Thomas. "It will be my 12th match of the season."
