Wynne Gray: Welsh win piles pressure on England

Wales lock Bradley Davies in the middle of the maul against Fiji. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Over to you England. Have you got the game, the bottle and the ideas to beat the Wallabies and stay in a desperate scramble to qualify for the World Cup playoffs.

Predictions about the tension in Pool A have been on the mark as Wales continued their march with a gritty 23-13 win against Fiji today in Cardiff, a victory which continues to pile further pressure on pool hosts England.

All sorts of excuses had been prepared for Wales if they had come unstuck after their gallant last match triumph against England and while they looked weary, they brought enough resilience to find the necessary result.

Fiji asked them plenty of questions, especially when the game broke open and they were able to use their offloads and inventive interplay to find space. They also showed their hosts up in the scrum but it was in the crucial plays where Wales found their escape route.

They began extra well and halfback Gareth Davies used a massive period of pressure to dummy and dive across the try line while near the end of the half, hooker Scott Baldwin burrowed over after another strong Wales foray.

Around those twin strikes, marksman Dan Biggar showed no letup from his extraordinary display at Twickenham, nailing every kick today on his home Millennium ground.

That reliability gave Wales a fraction more breathing space while sadly for Fiji, Ben Volavola missed two handy penalty attempts and the chance for his team to apply more heat. They were up for the challenge with their mobile forwards pushing past the tacklers and connecting with their support to put Wales on the rack.

They maintained that pressure in the scrums as well but without that little bit of finesse and a little more detail they walked off the ground with a third defeat.

Wales have a few more wounded with Biggar leaving with a leg injury, lock Bradley Davies needing repeated attention for a broken beak and Alex Cuthbert looking woozy after a head clash. Time will heal some of that damage and others in their casualty ward.

They have a bit of that luxury with nine days until Wales' final pool game with the Wallabies while their coaching staff will also need to find some solution to their scrum difficulties.

All eyes meanwhile will turn to see how the Wallabies play and England's reaction when the sides meet at Twickenham on Sunday.