Rugby World Cup: Wales hold on to beat Fiji

Wales captain Sam Warburton in action against Fiji, during the Pool A match between Wales and Fiji, held at Millennium Stadium. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Wales 23 Fiji 13
A win on the scoreboard for Wales which keeps them in the hunt for a quarter-final spot, but a moral victory for Fiji, who will leave here with a sense of pride and also regret.

Regret that they couldn't finish the job and regret too that they couldn't have their two best players on the field - wing Nemani Nadolo for a debatable one-week suspension for a tip-tackle, and halfback Nikola Matawalu to injury.

What would have been the result had they had those two, plus perhaps the chance to play Wales at a neutral venue rather than in front of a crowd of 71,576 in a stadium in the middle of Cardiff?

Here's another - what about first-five Ben Volavola, who again had a mixed game, missing two relatively easy penalties?

One, solitary, thing in their favour was their freshness. So often dealt poor hands in terms of turnarounds between matches, this time they were clearly the fresher team. Their last match was nine days ago.

After good performances, but defeats, to England and Australia in this Pool of Death, this was Fiji's big chance, and they so nearly capitalised on the Welsh hangover following their epic victory over England five days ago.

Their running game is as good as any team in this competition - indeed they scored one of the tries of the tournament through centre Vereniki Goneva, which was started in Fiji's 22m and owed much to the outstanding Chiefs wing Aseali Tikoirotuma.

Wales had 77 per cent possession in the first half, but couldn't put Fiji away. If their kicking game was poor, their scrum was downright embarrassing.

In the first half they were under pressure, but No8 Toby Faletau quickly got it away.

Suitably emboldened, Fiji destroyed them in the next one, and twice more in the second half. First-five Dan Biggar's departure with a leg injury was another blow.

Going by the number of neutrals cheering for Fiji, there were clearly a lot of English fans here - they now need to see their team beat Australia on Sunday to stay in the competition.

But they might have been cheering for different reasons too; watching as they were a side completely under-resourced compared with Wales playing with an ambition and appreciation for space not often seen on this pitch.

A win for Wales but convincing this was not.

Wales 23 (Gareth Davies, Scott Baldwin tries; Dan Biggar 2 cons, 3 pens)
Fiji 13 (Vereniki Goneva try; Ben Volavola 2 pens, con)
Halftime: 17-6.

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