Wales crush Tonga in Cardiff

Wales cruised to an ultimately comfortable 74-24 victory over Tonga on Saturday, although they were briefly made to sweat by the Pacific Islanders.

Three tries in the first 11 minutes – including one for Liam Williams, winning his 50th cap – saw the much-changed hosts threaten to run away with the match.

But Tonga regrouped and managed to drag themselves back from 24-3 down to pull level early in the second half, having earlier seen a try disallowed for a knock on.

From that point, however, it was all Wales.

70 – This is the first time @WelshRugbyUnion have scored 70+ points in a non-World Cup match since beating USA 77-3 in 2005. Unanswerable. pic.twitter.com/E3ruvLJSOe

— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) November 17, 2018

Steff Evans, Tomos Williams, Tyler Morgan, Cory Hill, Aled Davies and Rhys Patchell all touched down before Liam Williams marked his big day with a second try.

Dan Biggar – back in the side having lost the number 10 shirt to Gareth Anscombe for last weekend’s victory over Australia – contributed 19 points, including 14 from the tee, to give coach Warren Gatland a selection headache ahead of next weekend’s visit of South Africa.

The result extends Wales’ winning run to seven matches at home. Only once since 1978 have they enjoyed a longer such run – nine games between 1997 and 1999.