JOSE Mourinho is the master of distraction after a poor performance but Gatland didn't have to try and invent a medical saga like the Chelsea boss did against Swansea last month, he actually endured one.

A rotten encounter was summed up by the head coach saying: "I wouldn't hope to ever see a game again where Taulupe Faletau drops two kick-offs. That's very unlike him".

Wales' final World Cup warm-up against Italy was disastrous because of the injuries suffered by Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny, the former sucking the life out of the game after just 26 minutes.

From then on it was a deflating experience with Wales spluttering and the Azzurri actually playing pretty well with captain Sergio Parisse a joy to watch.

It was a surprise to see the number eight limp out of the Millennium Stadium with his left leg strapped – his underlings should have carried him given the proximity to their World Cup opener with France a week on Saturday.

Wales were super when winning 16-10 against Ireland in Dublin and they were awful when winning 23-19 against Italy in Cardiff.

A brightish start was ruined by the hapless Alex Cuthbert passing straight to Parisse, who was stopped just short by impressive centre Scott Williams but Leonardo Sarto went over from the quick ball.

Williams put George North over down the left with a glorious pass but Wales bombed a host of chances before Webb's catastrophe with Cory Allen, who pipped Newport Gwent Dragons centre Tyler Morgan to selection, the most guilty of white line fever.

Wales could not conjure another try and had to rely on the right boots of Halfpenny and fly-half Dan Biggar to ensure they go into the Uruguay opener on a winning note.

Dependable players like Faletau made mistakes galore, the scrum struggled (in mitigation referee George Clancy gave some baffling decisions), attacking lineouts were botched and the error count denied them the chance to play at the high tempo that stretches the Italians.

"We are not happy and players have got to have a close look at their own performances," said Gatland.

"We went on with the intention of wanting to play rugby, but it was just so stop-start the whole game.

"We have gone from 43 minutes ball-in-play last week to 26 minutes this week and we had the same sort of game against them in the 2014 Six Nations with the same referee.

"They are difficult team to put away and at the end of it we decided to make sure we won."

They did that but in years to come few will remember Wales versus Italy for the result or the poor performance for that matter.

Wales: L Halfpenny, A Cuthbert (M Morgan 20-26), C Allen, S Williams, G North, D Biggar, R Webb (G Davies 26), G Jenkins (P James 53), K Owens (K Dacey 68), T Francis (A Jarvis 63), J Ball (L Charteris 53), D Day, J King, S Warburton (captain), T Faletau (R Moriarty 63).

Scorers: try – G North; penalties – L Halfpenny (5), D Biggar

Italy: A Masi, L Sarto, L Morisi (L McLean 4), G Garcia, G Venditti, T Allan (C Canna 58), E Gori (G Palazzani 65), M Rizzo (M Aguero 52), L Ghiraldini (A Manici 75), M Castrogiovanni (L Cittadini 40), Q Geldenhuys, J Furno (V Bernano 65), A Zanni, F Minto, S Parisse (captain, S Vunisa 65).

Scorers: tries – L Sarto, G Palazzani; penalties – T Allan (2); drop goal - C Canna

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Attendance: 52,981

Argus star man: Scott Williams