The veteran loose-head was introduced on the 57th minute in his final appearance for Cardiff Blues before retirement.

It brought an end to an illustrious career in which the man they call Melon established himself as one of the all-time Welsh greats.

During his professional career Jenkins won 129 Wales caps and five for the British & Irish Lions – making him the most capped prop in the world and fourth on the general rankings – four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slams, the Heineken Cup (with Toulon), two European Challenge Cups and an Anglo-Welsh Cup.

He was told to hang up his boots due to knee injury but he was determined to run at the Arms Park and he went out in style as the Blues got back to winning ways with a maximum-points haul.

The victory – the Blues’ fifth in their last seven games in all competitions – sees them climb to third/fourth in the Guinness PRO14 Conference A.

It took just two for Shingler to boot the scoreboard into action as Nick Williams forced an early turnover at a damp Cardiff Arms Park.

Francois Brummer quickly had the opportunity to hit back for the visitors after the Blues were caught holding on but he fired a simple penalty wide.

They dominated much of the opening exchanges and claimed the opening try on 16 minutes.

Rey Lee-Lo carried hard into the heart of the Italian defence at first phase and when the ball was recycled, Shingler trickled a grubber kick through to the corner, which was collected by full-back Williams.

The Blues continued to impose themselves on the encounter with Jason Harries and Nick Williams putting in notably big hits but it was not one way traffic, with Zebre also threatening on the counter with their offloading game.

Shingler kept the scoreboard ticking with a second penalty shortly before the half-hour mark.

The score remained 11-0 going into the break and it took just eight minutes for Wales’ Capital Region to claim their second try.

A superb touch finder from Shingler, when awarded a penalty, laid the foundations, Josh Turnbull took the ball at the front of the lineout and the pack rumbled over with Myhill the beneficiary.

Shingler added the extras to stretch his side’s lead to 18-0 and thoughts turned to pursuing a bonus-point.

Aled Summerhill almost sliced through after hitting an inside pass from Shingler at pace as the Blues went on the attack off first phase ball.

Both Samu Manoa and Olly Robinson went agonisingly close as play continued and when they came back for a five-metre scrum there was no mistake as the pack, including a new front-row of Jenkins, Kristian Dacey and Keiron Assiratti, powered over, allowing Williams to touch down.

Shingler converted to make it 25-0 and two minutes later Mulvihill’s men wrapped up the bonus-point as Lee-Lo hit a flat pass from replacement scrum-half Lewis Jones, which the fly-half once again converted.

Lee-Lo added a fifth in the final play, but all eyes were on Jenkins, who stepped up for the conversion, which shaved the post. But no doubt ‘Melon’ would be delighted with the defensive effort, which prevented the hosts from scoring a single point.