[2015 RWC] Pool A: Wales vs. Fiji (01/10/2015)

[barthelemy]

England lose at the weekend, wales won't go past the quarters I don't think.

Jealous ? Seriously, the other way around, Wales playing 4 days after a big big match for them, this match was a trap...and they managed it pretty well against a very good fiji team. They have done the job...now u have to beat Australia

 

[ianw16]

Jealous ? Seriously, the other way around, Wales playing 4 days after a big big match for them, this match was a trap...and they managed it pretty well against a very good fiji team. They have done the job...now u have to beat Australia

Let's be honest; England come up against anyone decent and they're out.

 

[ABs2011]

Let's be honest; England come up against anyone decent and they're out.

You reckon OZ are "decent"? I'm not sure aye - I read somewhere that OZ's record away against England is not that flash (although I haven't checked myself).

One thing that can be said with certainty though is IF England can't beat OZ then they don't deserve to be there! How sad will that Uruguay match be if that's the case

I still give the edge to Eng in the OZ match - but only slightly. If the English don't have things sorted mentally though its good night nurse!

 

[Muzzy]

Have to say I have a lot of respect for you guys , always come to play rugby and that's what we like in Wales , really looking forward to the cibi and a great atmosphere, may the best team win let's leave it all out there .

Hey what happened to Bread of Heaven? I was looking forward to hearing it

 

[RJAH777]

You reckon OZ are "decent"? I'm not sure aye - I read somewhere that OZ's record away against England is not that flash (although I haven't checked myself).

One thing that can be said with certainty though is IF England can't beat OZ then they don't deserve to be there! How sad will that Uruguay match be if that's the case

I still give the edge to Eng in the OZ match - but only slightly. If the English don't have things sorted mentally though its good night nurse!

True, recent matches v england haven't been great for Wallabies but they are a different animal now, huge improvements in scrum, huge improvements in attitude and recent results plus pocock is back. Going to be a great game, everything riding on this for both sides

 

[WaterboySA]

Must admit I thought Wales would win by a bigger margin. Really disappointed in their front row. The new Fiji forwards coach couldn't do ANYTHING at the Bulls for years. Do Wales have many front row injuries?

 

[wayevs]

Upon reflection and taking injuries , new lads starting and a 4 day turnaround it was a very good result , at first I was disappointed that we didn't get that bonus point but the win was the main thing. England now have to go beat Australia which in itself is a 50/50 game, I thought Mathew Morgan had a decent game at fullback he did miss a couple tackles and he is quite small so I am looking forward to Liam slotting back into position , also tyler morgan did well didn't have much of the ball offered good support again , Warburton was outstanding , lead from the front , made huge tackles, first at the breakdown and even made a break or 2 also thought lydiate was having a great game in defense before tipuric coming on . so all in all some big positives a nice rest now and make no mistake we will be a stronger team for Australia , with Liam and possibly anscombe coming back into the side , Lee should be filly fit also its obvious to me that Jarvis is a better scrummager than jenks so that may need looking at in the Australia we because we can't afford to be going backward s on our put ins , and ultimately because of the scrum it gave Fiji go forward and let them back on the game, lineout was good today though , id be starting charteris every time even though Bradley has played well charteris is a more effective player. So on to Saturday we go , and hey we may not need the win next week if the aussie s do us a favour - aussie aussie aussie - OZ OZ OZ

 

[WaterboySA]

Must agree on the Wales fullback, he looked full of running.

 

[Ospervat]

Aaarrrggghhh - my head hurts.

Instincts telling me this will be the final table so gonna stick my neck out.......
Aus - 17 pts
Eng - 12 pts
Wales 11 pts

Off with my head!

 

[AzaMatt]

not too worried about the bonus point. it wasnt for lack of trying, fiji were very tough. seemed to break our line of defence quite easily, although fatigue due to the short turn around could have been a factor. at least i hope thats the case! cant afford to give australia any space at all as they will score easily. if england win this weekend then the following weekend will be an absolute cracker for us, edge of seat stuff. Id love for us to beat Aus but at the moment i cannot see it happening. got a feeling england might just pinch it as their backs are against the wall

 

[MojoPin]

The result could have been better but Fiji looked very, very strong for a while there and it's such a shame that they're in pool B to be honest, as they probably deserve to push for the quarters. Anyways, was pretty happy with the way Wales played considering how knackered they were. Matthew Morgan showed up in a big way - expecting to see big things from him in the coming years. I suspect Liam Williams will be the starting fullback against Oz, fitness permitting - but I'd sooner have Morgan on the wing than Cuthbert - who had another absolute shocker. I don't like saying it as he's been excellent in the past, but how many more times can the Welsh management watch him waste chances and cough up turnovers? It's tricky as we're desperately short on wingers right now - and to be fair I don't think Cuthbert has been given particularly good ball to work with. Front row also a big concern but I think with a bit of rest and playing Samson from the start we'll be able to improve.

As for England v Australia - at the moment my head says Australia but something in my gut says England are capable of a big, big performance. Too tight to call but obviously from a purely Welsh perspective, hoping Australia can do us a favour and keep England at bay.

 

[wayevs]

not too worried about the bonus point. it wasnt for lack of trying, fiji were very tough. seemed to break our line of defence quite easily, although fatigue due to the short turn around could have been a factor. at least i hope thats the case! cant afford to give australia any space at all as they will score easily. if england win this weekend then the following weekend will be an absolute cracker for us, edge of seat stuff. Id love for us to beat Aus but at the moment i cannot see it happening. got a feeling england might just pinch it as their backs are against the wall

I don't know mate , I really have no idea how that match will go on Saturday , what I do know is that Wales will be stronger for Australia plus they will have had a full week to train and be up for this match. I think we lost our defensive shape due to the unpredictable nature of Fiji and your right there were one to many missed tackles for my liking ,they did look a tad lethargic to me but that's understandable. Still don't think we are getting north into the game as much as we should , I can remember the first 5 mins where he broke a couple of tackles and nearly scored a try but apart from that he was in no mans land for the rest of the match.

 

[MojoPin]

Did Biggar go off injured ?

Cramp, apparently. So shouldn't be too much of an issue - fingers crossed...

Agree with others though that he was a bit too whiny towards the ref, just goes to show much much Fiji were frustrating them at every opportunity!

 

[AzaMatt]

I don't know mate , I really have no idea how that match will go on Saturday , what I do know is that Wales will be stronger for Australia plus they will have had a full week to train and be up for this match. I think we lost our defensive shape due to the unpredictable nature of Fiji and your right there were one to many missed tackles for my liking ,they did look a tad lethargic to me but that's understandable. Still don't think we are getting north into the game as much as we should , I can remember the first 5 mins where he broke a couple of tackles and nearly scored a try but apart from that he was in no mans land for the rest of the match.

agree about north, after that little break i was optimistic the bonus point would come, but he hardly saw any ball after that. fiji were incredibly unpredictable, passing and running in all directions, made me nervous. Aus game we should be more organised and with our long rest it might be another good result, depends how australia play this weekend, they have been playing fairly good so far, nothing spectacular but they are certainly not playing as well as they could be (with the exception of their scrum, improved alot)

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Cramp, apparently. So shouldn't be too much of an issue - fingers crossed...

Agree with others though that he was a bit too whiny towards the ref, just goes to show much much Fiji were frustrating them at every opportunity!

If he is ruled out of the Aus game i geniunely feel that would be it for us. stand out player of the year probably, along with webb.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Is Liam Williams coming back? He'll be pivotal to Wales winning another match this competition, I'd be afraid coming up against one of the big guns with Morgan at the back.

 

[AzaMatt]

Is Liam Williams coming back? He'll be pivotal to Wales winning another match this competition, I'd be afraid coming up against one of the big guns with Morgan at the back.

apparently it was just concussion protocol due to the short turn around. he should be fine for the Aus match as long as he does pass the tests. i imagine we would have had news by now if he was ruled out

 

[TommiG88]

apparently it was just concussion protocol due to the short turn around. he should be fine for the Aus match as long as he does pass the tests. i imagine we would have had news by now if he was ruled out

His concussion was a pretty bad one, reminded me to Brown's back in the 6 Nations.

Hopefully it's minor and he's back for the Aussie game.

 

[Ospreylian]

I was initially a bit deflated after the match and disappointed about the lack of bonus point, but it's easy to forget the short turnaround Wales had for this game after one of the most intense games any of those players has ever been involved in. Fiji had one of the best games I've ever seen from them and were so exciting to watch with the amount of offloads and clever passes they put in. I was shocked Wales didn't concede more tries tbh, to be able to hold out those Fijian attacking moves when the game went loose is a testament to Wales' defence.

But a 10 point win after a 5 day turnaround isn't really anything to complain about. I read Sam Warburton said it was one of the hardest/most tiring matches he's ever been involved in, so that says a lot. You wouldn't have been able to tell he was tired tbh, he was everywhere and probably would have been my man of the match.

So the flipside to the short turnaround for Fiji is that we now have 8 days to prepare for the crunch against the Aussies, which is vital seeing as it might end up being the knockout game of Wales and Aus. I would make a couple of changes for this one. Lee should start, as soon as he came on the scrum was a bit more solid, though that might just be because the Fijians tired throughout the game. Charteris should start ahead of Davies, for his lineout work. I know Davies stole a couple, but I just feel that Wales' own lineout ball is more secure when Charteris is on the field. Tipuric should start ahead of Lydiate, mainly for the fact I'm sure we would all love to see Hooper/Pocock vs Tipuric/Warburton, but I think Tipuric is the type of player we need to combat Australia's amazing breakdown skills. If Liam Williams is fit I would slot him back in at fullback and shift Morgan onto the right wing. Matthew had a great game yesterday and I've always been a huge fan, but I do feel very nervous when he is the last man in defence and a 6 ft 5 monster is streaming towards him. I think on the wing he could flourish in the same manner that Shane did. Cuthbert didn't do anything to secure his place, he had a slightly better game, but still made stupid mistakes.

 

[wayevs]

agree about north, after that little break i was optimistic the bonus point would come, but he hardly saw any ball after that. fiji were incredibly unpredictable, passing and running in all directions, made me nervous. Aus game we should be more organised and with our long rest it might be another good result, depends how australia play this weekend, they have been playing fairly good so far, nothing spectacular but they are certainly not playing as well as they could be (with the exception of their scrum, improved alot)

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If he is ruled out of the Aus game i geniunely feel that would be it for us. stand out player of the year probably, along with webb.

Biggar has been our best player this campaign no question and its only the English who moaned about him complaining to the ref, I quite like it he just likes to get his point across that's all nothing wrong with that.

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I was initially a bit deflated after the match and disappointed about the lack of bonus point, but it's easy to forget the short turnaround Wales had for this game after one of the most intense games any of those players has ever been involved in. Fiji had one of the best games I've ever seen from them and were so exciting to watch with the amount of offloads and clever passes they put in. I was shocked Wales didn't concede more tries tbh, to be able to hold out those Fijian attacking moves when the game went loose is a testament to Wales' defence.

But a 10 point win after a 5 day turnaround isn't really anything to complain about. I read Sam Warburton said it was one of the hardest/most tiring matches he's ever been involved in, so that says a lot. You wouldn't have been able to tell he was tired tbh, he was everywhere and probably would have been my man of the match.

So the flipside to the short turnaround for Fiji is that we now have 8 days to prepare for the crunch against the Aussies, which is vital seeing as it might end up being the knockout game of Wales and Aus. I would make a couple of changes for this one. Lee should start, as soon as he came on the scrum was a bit more solid, though that might just be because the Fijians tired throughout the game. Charteris should start ahead of Davies, for his lineout work. I know Davies stole a couple, but I just feel that Wales' own lineout ball is more secure when Charteris is on the field. Tipuric should start ahead of Lydiate, mainly for the fact I'm sure we would all love to see Hooper/Pocock vs Tipuric/Warburton, but I think Tipuric is the type of player we need to combat Australia's amazing breakdown skills. If Liam Williams is fit I would slot him back in at fullback and shift Morgan onto the right wing. Matthew had a great game yesterday and I've always been a huge fan, but I do feel very nervous when he is the last man in defence and a 6 ft 5 monster is streaming towards him. I think on the wing he could flourish in the same manner that Shane did. Cuthbert didn't do anything to secure his place, he had a slightly better game, but still made stupid mistakes.

Would you not start Jarvis along with Lee to really shore up that scrum , we can afford such a poor scrum against Australia , I just feel that Jenkins is the weak link in a poor scrum at the moment. Just to add fantastic work from falatau again to come away with the ball from a failing scrum, damn he's good at it!

 

[MojoPin]

Just to add fantastic work from falatau again to come away with the ball from a failing scrum, damn he's good at it!

Yeah that's well worth mentioning, amazing game from Faletau - without him those scrums would have been even more messy and dangerous!

Good point about Bradley Davies too - he's been good so far but Charteris should start. Frustrating that a probable try for Wales didn't even get to the TMO because of that neck roll. As good as he can be Davies is prone to the ol' red mist every now and then. Much less so these days but Charteris is deserving of the start I think.