Henry's sweet relief

Wales skipper Scott Quinnell lunges over for a try

Delighted Wales coach Graham Henry was a relieved man after his side brushed Tonga aside with a 51-7 victory at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

The New Zealander had been under mounting pressure following successive home defeats by Ireland and Argentina, and needed a convincing result to restore some credibility to Welsh rugby.

And with veterans Scott Quinnell and Rob Howley leading the charge Wales did just that, turning in a scintillating second-half performance which saw the home side score 32 unanswered points.

Allan Bateman provided an old head in midfield

"I'm delighted with the way the guys played," Henry said. "They got more confident as the game went on and they started to express themselves.

"There's been a bit of pressure coming from outside the team, so they just had to concentrate on playing the game well.

"I thought Scott Quinnell led the side very well. Scott's done a marvellous job in the build up to this Test and he's done exceptionally well on the field today.

"It was also good to see some of the young guys like Jamie Robinson and Rhys Williams expressing themselves.

"They scored tries near the end of the game and that will do their confidence no end of good.

"That's great for the future. It was a good result for Welsh rugby."

Skipper Quinnell dedicated the win to former Wales captain David Young, who retired from international rugby in the aftermath of the Pumas defeat.

"David Young has been the cornerstone of Welsh rugby for so many years," Quinnell said.

Barry Williams and Jamie Robinson both scored tries

"David phoned me last night to wish me all the best and he asked me to relay that sentiment to all the players before the match.

"He phoned me after the game to congratulate me and we still feel he's a big part of our set-up.

"I said to the players before the game, 'Let's do this for David'.

"It was very difficult for him to stand down at the start of the week, but he made that decision and we went out there and played for him today."

Quinnell, who ran scrum-half Howley close for the man-of-the-match award, was also pleased with the performance and believes the result was exactly what his team needed.

"I thought the players kept their cool very well today, which allowed us to build a platform and go and play like we did in the second half," he added.

"Hopefully we can build on that. We needed to win the game and we've done that.

Iestyn Harris kicked five penalties and three conversions

"Tonga played very well, they played the sort of game we knew they would.

"They come at you hard, they come at you strong and they come at you all day so I'm delighted with the win."

Tonga coach Jim Love was less impressed with Wales' display and predicts they are in for a hard time when they play world champions Australia next Sunday.

"I really thought that we could beat Wales and we did make a good start against them," he said.

"On today's evidence I can't see Wales beating Australia next week. We were down to 13 men at one point but Wales could not score a try.

"If that had happened against Australia, it would have been a different story."