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Fri 2 Oct 2015 | 02:22
Wales get job done with win over determined Fiji in Cardiff

7
Comments

Wales were made to work hard for a 23-13 Pool A victory over Fiji at the Millennium Stadium earlier today. The win came about thanks to tries by Gareth Davies and Scott Baldwin, plus two conversions and three penalties from flyhalf Dan Biggar.

Fiji showed glimpses of their usual brilliance, with Vereniki Goneva scoring after a superb counter attack with some wonderful stepping and passing, but there were far too many errors.

They were strong at scrum time, but Wales were able to shut them down and despite not getting a bonus point win, Wales are in a good position with three wins from three matches.

England against Australia this coming weekend now becomes even more important. If Australia win, Wales will more than likely reach the quarter finals. If England win, then Wales will have to beat Australia in their final pool match.

There are plenty of permutations, for example if Wales and England finish on the same amount of points, Wales will go through due to them winning 28-25 last weekend.

It all gets a bit complicated so after Saturday we will have a better picture of what all sides need to do in the final round. For now you can see the Pool A table as it stands right now.

Posted By: Grant Constable

7 Comments

  • 7:36 PM 04/10/2015

    This YouTube video (England 25 v 28 Wales - Funny Interview) seems to be doing the rounds at the moment. :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHOu2JhvM90

  • facepalm
    5:35 PM 02/10/2015

    The treatment of Fiji in this World Cup has been totally disgraceful.

  • stroudos
    1:31 PM 02/10/2015

    Agree. Slammin Sam makes hard yards AND puts other players in space. I've had enough of Barritt "heroically" tackling people with his face. The only reason he's there, supposedly, is for defensive organisation, yet it was his disorganised defence (rushing out of the line) that created the gap for Wales's try. On top of that, Burgess has kudos in Australia for his brilliance in the other code. Not selecting him disregards a potential psychological advantage.

    I don't like to complain about refs, but Lacy was really shit. I was banging my head against a brick wall yesterday trying to explain to a Welshman how the ref pinged Fiji more, so I'm relieved to see your first line here. And, yes, I'd caveat that he was shocking against both teams, but the balance was in Wales's favour.

    Players you highlighted were indeed excellent. Chapeau also to Warburton who got through a lot of work and North looked his old dangerous self when he got the ball in hand.

  • mattyj
    9:58 AM 02/10/2015

    Thankfully for us welshies, the poor reffing fell in our favour in the second half, but some awful decisions against both sides. Matthew Morgan was very exciting, just like halfpenny with confidence running when he first started, although trying to outrun the Fijian cover from his own 22 was a bit brave, very lucky not to turnover! Excellent game by Biggar (even if he does his hair every 5 mins, don't get me started on the pre-kick jiggle haha) Alun Wyn Jones, faletau (quick pickups from the disintegrating scrum) Gareth davies, no doubt gonna give rhys webb a run for his money in this form. Still not sure why cuthbert still starts other than be has experience and there is no one to replace him with, but very poor in my mind, little ground plus turnovers and one rip doesn't excuse his lack of coontribution.
    England are gonna struggle today with barritt In the back line, the only possibility of magic in the back line is mis-passing barritt or having him ship it out early each run for joseph to have some time on the ball (making his selection pointless, not that he can attack anyway). The aussies will exploit this. Sam burgess should have that spot

  • mattyj
    9:47 AM 02/10/2015

    Absolutely agree! Moment of panic expecting at least a yellow if not a red for the backwards choke slam! Plus his nose was leaking everywhere, no one wants that much of someone else's blood on them!

  • stroudos
    9:23 AM 02/10/2015

    Well done to Wales for getting the job done, but the most exciting part of the game for me was first ten minutes of the second half, where they allowed themselves to be lured into playing Fijian style rugby - and Fiji got the better of them for a while. Unfortunately, Wales got a grip after the Goneva try and reverted to throttling Fiji, rather than taking them on at their own game. (On that note, I know England have Joseph back in now to hopefully spark something for the back three, but I hope they don't try to play too much like Australia; if England are going to have any chance they need to play to their (relative) strengths and smash it through the middle).

    I was again impressed by Fiji, their forward pack has dramatically improved over the past couple of years. You know you're going to see exciting shit from the backs and yesterday was no exception. Their offloading is just beautiful; if they could have just protected the ball a bit better when taking it into contact I think we could have been looking at a very different result.

  • stroudos
    9:16 AM 02/10/2015

    The "Rugbydump" moment doesn't seem to be in this clip. That for me was the moment where Bradley Davies tried to rip off the Fijian player's head at a ruck, quite early in the game. If Nadolo copped a suspension for a "head-roll", even when the judicial officer himself said he did nothing of the sort, unjustifiably missing this very game, then BD's had to be worth yellow at least, and by the letter of the Nadolo report red.

    I would like to have seen how Wales coped with 14 men for the majority of the match.

    Based on the precedent set with Nadolo, Davies must be cited and the book thrown at him. But that of course does nothing to help Fiji, who should have had the benefit (of playing 15 v 14) during the game.

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