Gonzalo Canale's early try had given them the perfect start but quickfire tries from Stoddart and Warburton, along with 11 points from the boot of Stephen Jones, saw Wales establish a ten-point lead at halftime.

Although Sergio Parisse's unconverted try on 51 minutes left Nick Mallet's side facing a five-point deficit with nearly half an hour to play, they could not find the killer touch leaving James Hook to seal Wales' second straight away win with a drop goal.

While many predicted a tight contest in Rome, it did not take long for the match to explode into life.

Jones nudged the visitors in front with an early penalty before Canale grabbed the game's opening try on five minutes in a move that owed more to Wales' concentration levels than Italian invention.

Lock Bradley Davies' pass to Stoddart was woefully short and centre Canale pounced on the loose ball in a flash before kicking ahead and winning the foot race to touch down for an unconverted score.

But Italy's defensive frailties, which cost them eight tries against England, were still in evidence moments later as Hook sliced through two attempted tackles before finding Lee Byrne who offloaded to Stoddart to register his second try of the Championship.

The score was confirmed by the television match official but Jones made a mess of the conversion.

Although Bergamasco reduced the deficit after Stoddart was caught in possession, they were once again made to pay for missed tackles on 13 minutes.

Byrne this time made the initial break, offloaded to Hook who then found Warburton on his shoulder to touch down. Jones converted to make it 15-8 to the visitors.

It was not a convincing advantage and Italy thought they had got the second try of the game when flanker Alessandro Zanni acrobatically dived over a ruck, but Stoddart prevented him from grounding the ball on the tryline according to the TMO.

They did have the consolation of a penalty in front of the posts which Bergamasco duly slotted.

In a surprisingly end-to-end game, both teams went close with Byrne having a try ruled out for a forward pass from Williams.

But with Jones kicking two penalties late in the first half, Warren Gatland's team had the luxury of a 21-11 advantage.

Bergamasco missed a penalty for a high Matthew Rees tackle shortly after the break but Italy did get their reward for a bright start to the second half.

Again the score came from a loose ball in the Wales midfield which was hacked downfield before Parisse managed to hold off Stephen Jones and Mike Phillips to ground the ball in the corner - with the blessing of the TMO.

Bergamasco's missed conversion left the gap at five points and, even though an unlucky bounce of the ball prevented Hook finishing an Italian breakout, the ascendancy was firmly with Italy - particularly at the scrum.

But another missed kick, this time from replacement Luciano Orquera, meant they could not capitalise on their advantage and when Wales marched downfield with five minutes to go Hook was able to apply the coup de grace.