Wales crush Tonga in Cardiff

Tonga showed some fight but Wales ultimately stormed to a 74-24 victory at the Principality Stadium.

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.

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.

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

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.