Wales won their third straight game at the Rugby World Cup, digging deep to beat Fiji 23-13 on Thursday and move to the brink of qualifying for the quarter-finals from the tournament’s toughest pool.
The Welsh will be guaranteed a spot in the quarter-finals if England loses to Australia today. The scenario would see the English knocked out of their home tournament.
“If we are being entirely selfish, Australia can do us a big favor,” said Wales coach Warren Gatland, who is from New Zealand. “But it’s hard for a Kiwi to be jumping up and down for the Aussies.”
Photo: AFP
On a five-day turnaround from a memorable 28-25 win over England, Wales held up well against Fiji’s adventurous, dynamic game and disciplined set piece to lead 17-6 at halftime through tries from scrumhalf Gareth Davies and hooker Scott Baldwin.
Center Vereniki Goneva finished off a 70m counter-attack to move the Fijians to within four points, ramping up the tension levels inside Millennium Stadium, but two penalties from flyhalf Dan Biggar pushed a tiring Wales side clear again.
Wales lead Pool A on 13 points, four more than Australia and seven more than England.
Photo: AFP
The celebrations among the Welsh players after fulltime were muted, seemingly from sheer exhaustion. Captain Sam Warburton said it was one of the toughest matches he had ever played.
“The changing room was bouncing after the England win, but today it was different feel,” said Warburton, who claimed that he could not even remember the try from Goneva that will go down as one of the best in the tournament so far.
Fiji has been something of a troublesome rival for the Welsh, beating them in the 2007 World Cup to eliminate them at the pool stage and drawing 16-16 in Cardiff in 2010. That history, combined with Wales’ short turnaround from Twickenham and growing injury toll, meant the ingredients were there for an upset.
Fiji dominated in the scrum, but Wales otherwise produced a professional display in tough circumstances.
Wales wasted a couple of scoring chances in the first half after breaks from halfway, which could even have clinched a bonus point by halftime. They settled for Davies’ show-and-go from 2m out in the seventh minute, which capped a dominant start to the match by the hosts, and Baldwin’s close-range try in the 32nd at the end of a move started by Biggar’s delayed pop pass in midfield.
Tension mounted in the second half from the moment Goneva crossed in the 49th. Winger Asaeli Tikoirotuma palmed off prop Gethin Jenkins and burst through from his own quarter. After a couple of offloads, a rampaging Goneva cut inside 10m out and forced his way over, with Ben Volavola’s conversion trimming the gap to four points.
Two more penalties from Biggar — the first from near halfway — gave the Welsh precious breathing space, but they struggled to subdue the Fijians, whose offloading, sidesteps and dynamism were stunning at times. Biggar hobbled off with cramp with 10 minutes left and finished with 13 points from five successful kicks. He has not missed a shot at goal in his two games so far.
Fiji have failed to earn a single point from games against England, Australia and Wales, despite impressive displays in all three. They were applauded by Wales fans as they did a lap of the field after the final whistle.
FRANCE VS CANADA
France closed in on a Rugby World Cup quarter-finals spot after scoring five tries in a 41-18 win against Canada in their Pool D match on Thursday.
Veteran lock Pascal Pape scored the fourth try to earn a bonus point, which is likely to be enough for France, the losing finalists in 2011, to reach the last eight.
France now face Ireland in a game that is expected to determine top spot in Pool D, with the winner likely to avoid a showdown with the All Blacks in the quarter-finals. The French lead the group with 14 points from three games, four points clear of Ireland and 10 ahead of Italy.
Despite the fulltime score against Canada, it was a somewhat patchy performance from France and the only safe bet was the accurate kicking of Frederic Michalak.
The 32-year-old flyhalf converted the first four tries and added two penalties on his way to becoming his country’s all-time World Cup scorer with 136 points. He made his World Cup debut in 2003.
Michalak was replaced near the end by Morgan Parra, who helped to set up winger Remy Grosso for a try on his Test debut as Canada played the last 10 minutes with 14 players after Nanyak Dala was sin-binned.
Despite it being a fifth straight win for France, Saint-Andre will be seeking answers as to why his team switched off in the first half.
The French appeared to be in complete control at 17-0 after tries from center Wesley Fofana and hooker Guilhem Guirado, but Canada rallied with two quick tries.
Left winger DTH Van Der Merwe crossed out wide and hooker Aaron Carpenter bulldozed over the creaking French line on the right.
At least Canada’s tries stirred France back into action.
The French won a penalty at the end of the half, but Michalak chose an attacking lineout instead of a shot at goal. The move paid off, the French rolling maul proved too good and prop Rabah Slimani ducked in to pad out the lead to 24-12.
France beat Italy 32-10 and Romania 38-11, with Saint-Andre using all 31 squad players, extending it to 32 as Grosso came in to replace the injured Yoann Huget.
Although well executed, France’s first try against Canada was made easier by some poor defense.
Michalak burst through the midfield, offloading a one-handed reverse pass to Fofana, who easily beat the defense for his 13th test try.
Michalak converted, moving level with Thierry Lacroix on 124 World Cup points, and then passed him after slotting over his first penalty goal.
Another direct move between Michalak and Fofana resulted in a try for Guirado before the Canadians responded with two tries.
The French steadied themselves and, after Michalak chose an attacking lineout rather than going for a kick, Slimani pushed his way through a gap to score.
The fourth try was proving elusive until the French again opted against a shot at goal in favor of an attacking lineout. Mathieu Bastareaud was held up near the posts before Pape stretched out from the subsequent rolling maul to get the fourth try, awarded after a television replay.
Canada competed gamely, but those efforts took a toll, with Crawley concerned about “four or five injuries” ahead of his team’s last match against Romania.
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