Wales must be at their best to take on Fiji
SHANE WILLIAMS
THERE will be a few nervous players from the Home Unions getting on planes and heading to France today. Everything they have been working towards over the last four years is now within touching distance – it's time to deliver!
All four teams will be traveling in different states of readiness. In some case it will be more a case of a state of disrepair. But there is nothing like the fear of failing at a World Cup to galvanise minds, team spirit and hone skills sets. Beware those teams who have their backs firmly against the wall, they have nothing to lose.
In the case of Wales, they have enough experience within their squad to dampen down the obvious nerves that will be felt by the younger players. If you wanted to lean on someone, then the likes of Dan Biggar, George North, Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau have broad shoulders.
There has been a deafening silence coming out of the Welsh camp over the past two weeks. Heads have been down, tactics have been talked and the focus on Fiji has been sharpened. And just as well after what they did at Twickenham.
This might not be a vintage England side at the moment, but it takes some doing to win at the home of English rugby. In many ways, Fiji's 30-22 win was an even bigger statement of intent than the Springboks record win over New Zealand the night before at the same venue. They were two stunning performances, brimful of physicality, purpose and intent. The Boks tore into the All Blacks and rocked the rugby world with their innovative selection on the bench with seven forwards and one back.
They sent out a warning to the rest of the rugby playing world they are in no mood to relinquish the Webb Ellis Trophy they won for the third time in Japan four years ago. As for Simon Raiwalui's Flying Fijians, they sent as clear cut a warning to their Pool C rivals, Wales, Georgia, Australia and Portugal, that they mean business this time round. They will come into the tournament having played five matches. They won the Pacific Rim title, beating Tonga, Samoa and Japan quite handily, pushed France in Paris and then suddenly Steve Borthwick's England side. Next on their agenda is Wales.
I only played against the Fijians twice. We beat them the first time, 11-10 in Cardiff, and then famously lost to them in Nantes at the 2007 World Cup, 38-34. Both games showed what they are capable of, yet Wales beat them 66-0 at the 2011 World Cup, 23–13 four years later and 29-17 in Japan at the 2019 tournament. The team talks before those games used to call for conservative rugby in the opening stages, pile on the set-piece pressure as the game wore on and then make hay when they ran out of steam in the second half. Fat chance of that this time judging by their performances in Paris and Twickenham!
What Raiwalui has been able to do is not just blend together the traditional skills of his players, but he has built a monstrous pack, worked very, very hard on their conditioning and altered their mind set. They can still score tries out of nothing, but they now finally seem to appreciate there is a balance to be struck between risk and tactical awareness, between being reckless and not making mistakes. Their pack still has a few frailties, and their lineout isn't always faultless, but once they get on the front foot, look out.
Their game against Wales in Bordeaux on Sunday is set to be a cracker, but so are all the opening round fixtures. France v New Zealand in Paris to kick-off the tournament – wow! South Africa v Scotland – sensational! England v Argentina – potentially explosive!
The Irish have, on paper at least, an easy start with a clash with Romania. The price for that is they finish their pool against South Africa and Scotland. And if Wales v Fiji is a tasty, very open start to Pool C for those two teams, Eddie Jones' Wallabies won't be able to take anything for granted against Georgia, especially with veteran prop James Slipper likely to miss the game. The fans will be in for a treat.
When I watched the way in which the All Blacks won the Rugby Championship, I didn't think there could be a team to touch them in France. Ireland may be the No.1 team in the world, and playing very well, but they have had so many hang-ups at the tournament there has to be a question mark about their ability to go all the way.
Then we had the Springboks laying waste to Argentina, Wales and New Zealand in their three warm-up games and the dial moved a bit. What about France, I hear you shout? Competitive, combative, but not quite the same without Romain Ntamack. We will learn about their title credentials from their opening game. Beat the All Blacks and they could go all the way. Lose and there might be no way back.
So much will be riding on the first round of matches. From a Welsh perspective, a win over Fiji would be a huge boost to morale and get them ready to tackle the Wallabies in round three. I expect them to get out of their pool, even if they limp over the line, and then anything can happen against either England or Argentina.
As for who is going to win the World Cup, I'm not going to stray from my original thought in the summer. It's still New Zealand for me. Every time they lose, they simply get stronger. They have all the required building blocks in their game, have more rugby nous that any other team and will go into the tournament bristling after what happened at Twickenham.
It is going to be fascinating and it is going to be wonderful. Enjoy!
