RWC: FIJ v WAL (Millenium): POOL A

[KOB1987]

That was entertaining, just finished watching. Wales didn't win it so much as Fiji lost it with a stack of turnovers/mistakes at crucial times. But as they say - "look at the scoreboard"!


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[No4918]

Damn it Wales, I didn't want to have to secretly want you to beat us.

 

[redblack]

Lacey was terrible but Fiji also have themselves to blame for continually losing the ball too easily in contact.

I was disappointed at the use of the head/neck as a lever in a number of tackles (particularly when fiji were working the ball out from their own line). Did anyone else notice this tactic?

 

[Dai bando]

Ah just got in hissed as a fart, but good game, well done Wales 3 down 1 to go wales were truly fucked by 50, but hung in to get the win,

 

[Dai bando]

We had 5 days to repair all the bodies from a crunching England encounter. Fiji had considerably more now we have 9 days to prepare for the Aussies. go Wales,

 

[cyclopath]

Damn it Wales, I didn't want to have to secretly want you to beat us.

Eh?

 

[qwerty51]

Eh?

If Fiji won and then we beat England I believe.

 

[No4918]

Eh?

I want England knocked out and that is looking less likely.

 

[Quick Hands]

As predicted, Wales got there, with a few worries along the way. Referee Lacey had a pretty good match, but did his bit to get the Tier 1 nation up with some odd penalties/non-penalties. A couple of examples Wales holding on 5m out from their own line and not penalised, then at 75 mins Wales 18 off his feet at the tackle and he finds a penalty against Fiji 8 who is lying on the ground 2 metres away.

There's no doubt that at this RWC Fiji have been the best of the island teams by far. They really seemed to have worked on their 15 a side rugby - good scrum and line-out and electrifying with ball in hand. This missed easy penalty by Volovola came back to haunt them. Some puzzling tactics by Wales at times - why kick the ball to a team who love running with the ball in open space. If you are going to kick against Fiji, it has to go out - make them run back 40 metres for a line-out, don't give them the ball in space with an unstructured defensive line.

In any other pool, Fiji would be a good chance to make the quarters.

 

[Cardiffblue]

We had 5 days to repair all the bodies from a crunching England encounter. Fiji had considerably more now we have 9 days to prepare for the Aussies. go Wales,

My respect for CH keeps growing. Could see the game plan. Try out the new guys and go for the BP early. Then when the ran out of steam due to the short turnaround, shore up the side with experience to secure the win. Get through with team unscathed. Job done.

 

[Cardiffblue]

But it's been a helluva few days. Beating the orcs and then having to tackle Fiji

 

[Cardiffblue]

As predicted, Wales got there, with a few worries along the way. Referee Lacey had a pretty good match, but did his bit to get the Tier 1 nation up with some odd penalties/non-penalties. A couple of examples Wales holding on 5m out from their own line and not penalised, then at 75 mins Wales 18 off his feet at the tackle and he finds a penalty against Fiji 8 who is lying on the ground 2 metres away.

In any other pool, Fiji would be a good chance to make the quarters.

Never put down to conspiracy that which can be explained by incompetence QH

 

[Cardiffblue]

I want England knocked out and that is looking less likely.

Eh? nothing's changed

 

[No4918]

Eh? nothing's changed

Will get back to you in 24 hours.

 

[Braveheart81]

This was a terrific game last night.

I couldn't sleep last night so ended up watching it live. I guess it must have been my body telling me that there was a good match to watch!

 

[Braveheart81]

I want England knocked out and that is looking less likely.

I don't think so.

If we beat England they are out. Wales beating Fiji closes the door on a side making it through with two wins.

If England beats us then they will almost certainly go through. They will get 5 points against Uruguay and 15 points will be enough to progress from this pool.

All that has changed by Wales not getting a bonus point is that if we lose to England, our chances of progressing are better than before because we would only need to accrue four more points than Wales from our last two matches rather than five.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Will get back to you in 24 hours.

LOL. It's still the same equation. Win and do the world a favour

 

[Cardiffblue]

I don't think so.

If we beat England they are out. Wales beating Fiji closes the door on a side making it through with two wins.

If England beats us then they will almost certainly go through. They will get 5 points against Uruguay and 15 points will be enough to progress from this pool.

All that has changed by Wales not getting a bonus point is that if we lose to England, our chances of progressing are better than before because we would only need to accrue four more points than Wales from our last two matches rather than five.

That's right. In the end even if we'd got the bp last night we still couldn't have afforded to lose against Australia by very much cos of points differential. And if Wales tried that we'd would have screwed it up anyway!

Much clearer now. If Australia lose Saturday it's winner takes all on the following Saturday. If Australia win on Saturday the match the following week becomes a play off for first vs second

 

[Cardiffblue]

This was a terrific game last night.

I couldn't sleep last night so ended up watching it live. I guess it must have been my body telling me that there was a good match to watch!

It was another good game. Wales looked nervous when Fiji started to play 7's. All good tho. We got through a game with a win without losing another backline injured

 

[Cardiffblue]

I was disappointed at the use of the head/neck as a lever in a number of tackles (particularly when fiji were working the ball out from their own line). Did anyone else notice this tactic?

No.
Brad Davies rightly got pinged for it early. The rest is your imagination