Wales beat Fiji 23-13 to go top of World Cup Pool A
Last Updated: 02/10/15 1:39pm
Wales recorded a 23-13 win over Fiji at the Millennium Stadium to top Pool A and pile the pressure on England.
The win for Wales means that if England lose to Australia on Saturday, they are out the World Cup. Wales on the other hand will be happy with the win, but are far from out of danger. Should Australia lose to England but beat Wales, Gatland's side could still fail to make it out of the group.
It was hard work for Wales at the Millennium Stadium, but they managed to score two tries through Gareth Davies and Scott Baldwin, while Dan Biggar was once again on song with the boot, contributing 13 points.
Fiji crossed once, through Niki Goneva, while Ben Volavola managed eight points from the tee.
Gareth Davies, try-scoring hero against England, opened the scoring for the home side when a ruck had been set up on the base of the Fiji uprights and after throwing the dummy, the scrum-half dived over to hand his half-back partner an easy conversion.
Fiji were then awarded a penalty from the scrum, and Volavola stepped up to make it 7-3 after 14 minutes, but the fly-half then missed a chance to bring the game to within one point three minutes later when he sent his second shot left of the poles.
Wales stretched the lead when they were awarded a penalty near the half-way line. Gareth Davies tapped quickly and tore up the field before being brought down inside the Fiji 22m area. He tried to pop the ball but it went forward off a Fijian hand, and when Sunia Koto caught it the referee blew for offside. Biggar called for the tee and slotted the subsequent shot at goal.
Both sides gave the ball plenty of width as the game wore on, but hard work from defenders at the breakdown ensured that the scoreboard remained unchanged.
Wales almost scored when they set up a lineout off the back of a penalty and George North crashed over from short range, but the TMO spotted that Bradley Davies cleared out a Fiji player dangerously and awarded the visitors a penalty. However Wales did not have to wait long for their next score.
After a run from Alun Wyn Jones the ball was recycled and sent to Tyler Morgan who was brought down right in front of the line, where Baldwin grabbed the ball from the base of the ruck and dived over for the score to give his side a 17-3 lead at the break.
Fiji were first on the board in the second half when Asaeli Tikoirotuma ghosted through the defence to make 60 metres on his own before popping the ball over the defence to his fellow winger. Nagusa gave a short pass to Goneva who saw off two defenders for the try that brought the visitors within range.
Biggar hit back from the tee to make it 20-13 after 55 minutes and it stayed that way until Jamie Roberts charged down a clearance kick in the in goal area to hand Wales an attacking scrum. From the possession Fiji infringed, and Biggar gave his side a 10-point lead with his final kick of the game.
Fiji threw everything at their hosts in the closing 10 minutes, but the Welsh held out to put themselves in a strong position with one game left to play.
Though they would have liked to score four tries and claim the bonus point, Gatland will be happy to take the win and move the focus to Australia.
