Wales romp home over Samoan reserves

'He had an adequate game, no more than that,' said the coach. 'He kicked the ball well for goal. I think he was a bit nervous.'

Asked if he would be more generous face-to-face with Thomas, a player who thrives on confidence, Henry again refused to budge. 'I'll give him a cuddle - then tell him he played adequately,' he said, adding with a wicked grin, 'we will support him as much as possible.'

Clearly, Henry, having overlooked Thomas, 26, in favour of Neil Jenkins for most of his two years in charge, is not about to start singing about his stand-off.

Thomas said: 'The coach hasn't said anything to me, he probably won't until Monday, when he's had a chance to look at the video and do all of the analysis.

'My first time back for a while was good, I thought. I felt good in the game, I thought it went all right and I have to thank the other boys for helping me out. There will obviously be an on-going selection process and all of the boys have to fight to keep their places.'

A penalty from the halfway line to put Wales 6-0 up after only five minutes, made easier by the decision to close the roof on the Millennium Stadium, would not have done his chances any harm.

But, perhaps, Henry will be more keen to focus on some of the disjointed midfield play, the dropped passes and missed moves which prevented Wales from capitalising on first-half dominance and put some of the blame on the shoulders of Thomas - who should be the fulcrum of every attack.

A solitary try from Mark Taylor, following massive pressure on the Samoan line, plus a hatful of Thomas penalties put the home side 19-6 up at the break.

Henry told his players to relax during the second half and, as Gough, Taylor, Allan Bateman and Shane Williams - twice - went over, there was a less fretful air among the crowd.

Gough, 24 on Friday, said: 'We won with a bit of style in the end, though we're by no means a polished team yet. We can take a lot of positives and a few negatives from that performance, which is important because we've got a big game coming up in two weeks' time, so we can work on things. South Africa is the big one and we've got to get it right for that. Samoa were very physical, we knew they would be. They are a proud nation and they put their bodies behind that.'

The difference in resources available to each nation had been well-documented in the build-up to this game.

While the Samoans are without their star players on tour, mainly because the hard-up Polynesians could only offer a daily allowance reported at £12 per man, Wales are now wondering whether they can have the roof on their superb stadium closed for Six Nations games. Their long-term aim is, according to manager David Pickering, 'to break into the top five of the world rankings'. Nothing too ambitious, then.

Samoa, still awaiting an invitation to play New Zealand despite an international record which includes three defeats of Wales, know what is needed if they are to compete at a higher level regularly.

Team manager Leota Kenape Tuuau said: 'This year we've had five or six games against Fiji, Tonga, the US, Canada - but this is another level completely.'

'New Zealand rugby has helped us in a lot of ways, most of our players earn their living there, but it's disappointing we've had to come to Wales for the support we should be getting from our neighbours.'