wales v Fiji

Rob Hunt wrote: Milli wrote: Morgan is no Captain. Biggar easily MOTM. Wales well worth their lead Presumably MOTM stands for mouth of the match. Jonathan Davies and Gwyn Jones were highly critical of Biggar mouthing off to all and sundry.

I have absolutely no problem with Biggar's actions. He & Cawdor are the generals who must get the gameplan implemented - North with 100+ caps should not need telling what to do in the moments before half time with Wales hanging on inside their 22. 

Agree with some of that GPR. Tompkins influential in 5 tries ( 3 for Wales and 2 for Fiji). He missed 6 tackles but so would a few others when up against that Fiji midfield. Did more than enough to ensure he starts v Australia.

I’m sorry to not share your thoughts on Beard. Daf Jenkins in a 15 minute cameo was far better. Beard had the lowest tackle count of any forward and was the only one not to carry at all. Daf to start for me.

The defensive shift by Wainwright, Rowlands and Morgan and a very impressive Gareth Thomas ( 23 tackles by a prop ) with Daf J and Reffel coming off the bench was impressive. Taulupe unsurprisingly not his most impactful.

Fiji made 70 tackles versus Wales’ 248.
Strange to think that Wales were cruising 32-14 on or around the hour mark when you see that. Fiji had gone down to 14 and looked spent when Dee went over from a driving maul.
Wales then, almost inevitably, brought Fiji back in to the game with a string of unforced and silly plays. I doubt Gatland would have been chuffed.

However 5 points is mission accomplished against a tough Fiji outfit. Next weeks game for then v Aus will be a belter.

Liam Williams was very poor for me, kicked out on the full & not kicking the ball out on the last play in the first half. 

ladram wrote: I see that Ben Whitehouse as TMO has come under fire again(no surprise there then) i hope that this world cup will not be determined by a lack of consistency by officials Fiji were battering our line and we gave 3 pens on the bounce ref warned Jac we go up the other end and Fiji gave a penalty which resulted in a yellow card you have to feel sorry for them.

Fiji got a yellow card for pulling down a maul with forward momentum, a couple of yards further and it would have been a penalty try. Domachowski was carded after Wales were give a final warning for being offside on their own line.
Thought both of those were decent calls tbh.

Whitehouse missed a red card incident in the SA v Scotland game. Poor. Particularly when you consider Russell getting a yellow.

The one thing I did think the ref messed up was he gave Fiji a penalty ( twice) when they had possession and momentum a few yards from the Welsh try line. I’d have been fuming.

ladram wrote: Wil Chips wrote: ladram wrote: I see that Ben Whitehouse as TMO has come under fire again(no surprise there then) i hope that this world cup will not be determined by a lack of consistency by officials Fiji were battering our line and we gave 3 pens on the bounce ref warned Jac we go up the other end and Fiji gave a penalty which resulted in a yellow card you have to feel sorry for them. Fiji got a yellow card for pulling down a maul with forward momentum, a couple of yards further and it would have been a penalty try. Domachowski was carded after Wales were give a final warning for being offside on their own line. Thought both of those were decent calls tbh. Whitehouse missed a red card incident in the SA v Scotland game. Poor. Particularly when you consider Russell getting a yellow. Wasn't denying the validity of the 2 yellows i was referring to the lack of further yellows against Wales when they were battering us.

Who would be a ref ? Damned if you do and damned if you don’t!  The game is so intensely monitored these days unlike the game of the past and I’m okay with cutting referees a bit of slack now and then . They are under intense pressure themselves and playing a game in intense heat. Their performance will be assessed and errors analysed.