The game was in the balance midway through the second half as Italy came back to 16-15 before full-back Fish and replacement Gunter, who also kicked both conversions, took the home side out of the Azzurri's grasp.

But coach Phil Davies will be left to reflect on his team's inability to build a bigger advantage in a first half in which they dominated possession and territory.

Fly-half Matthew Jarvis did boot them into the lead with an early penalty only for Italy to immediately reply through scrum-half Albert Chillon who would finish the evening with a 17-point haul.

Wales though did eventually make a deserved breakthrough on 20 minutes when the ball was spread wide from a ruck for Scarlet centre Scott Williams to run in a simple score which Jarvis converted.

Further opportunities were spurned before Jarvis and Chillon to trade further penalties just before the break giving the hosts a 13-6 halftime advantage.

A good move by the Welsh backline just failed to produce a try early in the second half but an Italian infringement did allow Jarvis to take Wales a score clear with a well-struck penalty.

But far from killing off the Italian challenge, the visitors responded with three Chillon penalties as well as a pushover effort that was ruled out by the TMO.

It took a moment of inspiration from Gunter in the 68th minute to steady the nerves with the fly-half converting his own try.

A breakaway try finished off by Fish after good work from James Loxton looked like making it game-set-and-match only for Italy once again to show their fighting spirit.

The power of the visitors' pack caused problems all evening long and they got a well-deserved reward as replacement prop Ornel Gega barrelled his way over but Wales held on.