Expectations are now totally different, and Wales will not be going in to this game with the baggage of 6N champions or anything remotely like that. Probably underdogs

I have awful memories of the day when we lost to Fiji, which led to Gareth Jenkins being sacked

 in the car park ROGER LEWIS. A more slimy snake , you wouldn't find in the jungles of the Congo.

What a way to treat someone, and Gareth has kept a dignified silence every since.

The last world cup, we were behind in the match against Fiji, and it took a absolutely wonderful outside break from Foxy, which led to a try that turned it for us. His reward was an awful injury sustained in that move, from which he has never quite fully recovered.

On to todays game, and there are, I am sure, a host of people forming a que to  compound the misery ,if we fail. If that happens , we need to look at years of WRU mismanagement of the game in Wales , with archaic structures, not fit for purpose. things will get worse soon, as the regions are starved of money, and development will clearly suffer. Regions too need to take some responsibility.

I will however be nervously backing Jac Morgan and the boys 100%, and hopefully they can do themselves justice.

Whatever happens , there is a nucleus of quite young players in Grady, Costelow, Lake, Jenkins, Christ T, and Morgan himself to build on...but could be a long road ahead !

Is Biggar like Webb on something in France 

Presumably MOTM stands for mouth of the match.

Jonathan Davies and Gwyn Jones were highly critical of Biggar mouthing off to all and sundry. 

Painkillers for his back I should think. He was in pain for much of the game.

I think Fiji could beat the Aussies.

In the last few mjnutes the referee stopped reffing the rucks. The Fijians, sealed, went over the top, took out defenders, the whole lot. It should never have got to the dramatic ending. 

Rowlands 27 tackles, Morgan 23.

Tackles ,Wales 248, 88%,  Fiji 70, 75%.

Clean breaks, 6 each.

Offloads Wales 9 Fiji 8 !

Territory Fiji 65%, possession Fiji 61%

Metres run Fiji 652, Wales 378

2 poor kicks by Tomos Williams led to the sin binning and then a very poor kick out on the full by Liam Williams gave them a chance they could well have taken at the finish.

However considering how badly we have been playing recently a good performance in parts and we should have won more comfortably than we did.

Wrong Milli, as much  as I applaud Fiji, both in terms of their skill and the sheer exitment they bring to a game, their conversion rate was poor and if you do'nt take your chances you do'nt deserve  to win.

If they are more clinical,  they could  trouble Australia. 

Gatland sumned it up perfectly afterwards,  when he said it was a disappointing end to the game for Wales

Without taking anything  away from Fiji's resilience, at 65 mins, Wales were 32- 14 up, and somehow, make crass decisions , in the closing  15 mins instead of closing the game down, when Fiji had a man in the bin.

There has been justified criticism  of Biggar, being openly critical  of his team mates.  Some of his anger was justified at the end of the first half however, with some madness on dislpay instead  of clearing  their lines as the clock turned  red.

Unfortunately,  we need his experience  & expertise  to run the ship.

Jac Morgan is still learning,  and in the absence  of AWJ, Ken, Tipuric,  overnight, Biggar( like him or not), is an essential  cog in this campaign. 

I was well impressed with Tomkins tonight. He has his critics, but people forget that he holds his place in top a top Sarries side. 

I did'nt select him in my side for tonight, so I got it wrong too..LOL!

Wales need to move on from this now, making subsequent  improvements in terms of discipline  and closing out  games. 

Beating Portugal isn't a given, but we should be able to gain another bonus point win, and rotate  the squad.

It's been a wonderful  weekend  of rugby,  thoroughly  enjoyable! 

 

Somebody has to as there wsa no captaincy visible.

RR 1972 pre game suggested that our bench was pretty weak & so it proved. Once Cawdor & Biggar left so did our control. Tomos Williams was poor & really the only two players who came on who impressed me were Dee & Jenkins. The disparity in tackling stats tells the story & Welsh fitness certainly played a large part in that victory. 

Those on this forum who constantly criticise Beard will I hope give him some credit for a decent showing. In that spirit I will also eat some humble pie & praise Tompkins, not my favourite selection, but he found some end results last night with some telling moments - well done. 

Wales were never going to win this World cup & were in severe danger of not getting out of the pool so well done to all involved - barring a calamity - we are in with a good chance of a quarter final.

Tompkins is not my favourite player but yesterday he did a superb game, a great game as second play..

Rowlands e Morgan in their best but all the team played well, no one can wait a game like this from Wales.

Gatland found the best strategy against a fantasti team like this Fiji..

Daf did impress for sure but Beard set the tone for an organised start by Wales will a superb collection of the kick off & some good lineout work which kept Wales in control. On the subject of lineout well done to Ryan who gave a very assured performance in an area Wales have often struggled. Back to Beard - Etzebeth he will never be but against a back drop of poor performances he did show up last night.

On the subject of statistics did anyone notice the pack weights over the weekend. South Africa as you would expect 925 kgs, Wales & Fiji well matched at around 920 but wait for it Australia came in at a staggering 960 kgs. This guy Angus Bell at loose head is a carrying machine - they will ask some serious questions of the Fijian forwards.

A final thought - boy how much did Fiji miss Caleb Muntz their new young 10. Their current goal kickers are not going to win them any games. 

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.

We won.  

The manner of the win was not pretty, nor was it particularly clever.

Fiji played very well, but we still had more points on the board at the end.

We won.  Breathe a big sigh of relief.

But thank goodness it's out of the way now.

There might have been more yellows against Fiji as well and I wanted a playback of the early stages of a ruck near our line (I think the one where the Fijian was deemed to have made a double movement). Liam seemed to be temporarily unconscious- was he trampled on? 

Surprised that the inept reffing hasn’t been one of the main talking points. Wales got away with murder when Fiji were on our line. 

Domachowski needs a proper bollocking as his stupidity nearly proved fatal. I'd be tempted to pick Smith and Henry Thomas on the bench for the next big game.

Lots of criticism for the ref from bitter English and Irish fans who just can't bear to see wales win makes the victory all that more sweeter.

Tompkins was the pick of the backs and it was nice to see us try to play with a bit of width 

Wales will only get better as the tournament goes on. So we'll done to them.

And fair play to Fiji too, never gave up until the final whistle. Best game of the RWC so far

Rowlands was immense too, 27 tackles & none missed.

Agreed & why he jumped on the back of the Fijian & patted his head I'll never know.

Spot on Jeremy! 

I want know WHY Domachowski and Lewis were playing  at all.

Both are suspect scrummagers, and so it proved.

Surely Smith and Henry Thomas to start v Portugal,  and maybe then on bench v the Aussies. 

Also, having watched the game back with a 'cool head', I am shocked at the crazy way we let the Fijiand back in to the game, when we were in control, on 65 mins.

Gats will want a word about those decisions. 

It's the same, after the first 10 mins , we become loose, kick infield , giving the dangerous  Fiji backs a chance to counter from open play. 

Aussies will be more clinical and cane us.

The studio panel, of Jamie Roberts,  Sam Warburton,  an Gareth  (bungalow) Thomas, agreed that Wales did well when sticking to the game plan, but when they diverted from that and got loose, things began to unravel

This of coursexwas rich from bungalow Thomas , whose own side diverted from the game plan, were sacked into a loose game with Fiji in 2007, and we know the result. 

This meant of course that Gareth Jenkins was sacked in the car Par by  slimy Roger Lewis, and humiliated. 

Thanks Gareth, but we do'nt need your advice.

Why is he used as a pundit..God knows!

Anyway, in the end, a great win for Wales, who showed tremendous guts and resilience,  and they will improve. 

Onwards  and upwards! 

Alfy is a horrendous pundit, males my skin crawl at times 

I though Sanjay had a decent game overall - true, that missed touch was a bad one, and he was a bit silly at times.

Both sets of centres were much better in attack than in defence!

I didn't think Biggar had a good game, for him - and his goal kicking was worse than usual. He seemed to spend more effort shouting than taking good decisions.

Cawdor was his usual combative self - positive performance overall, especially when compared to Tomos W and his awful skied box kick.

Front row did well - all of them - and Rowlands. Beard caught a couple of high balls (I say no more about his contribution except his bulk may have been a plus in the scrums...). Back row struggled a bit...maybe Wainwright was the best of them except for missing that tackle. Morgan has a future at 10!

Subs no time to do much - Domachowski really stupid error. Dee took the try well. Reffell put in a couple of good hits.

The comments in other forums were pathetic - hardly anyone praised a superb game of rugby - the best of the tournament so far. Around 90% (or so it seemed) were only interested in having a pop at the ref for not waving more YCs earlier - at Wales (of course). Even if they had half a point - and they may have had - it was impossible not to sense that basically it was sour grapes from England 'supporters' who lost recently to Fiji, and sheer unpleasant hostility to the Wales team from most of the rest. Sickening. Do they watch rugby at all, outside the RWC? They sounded more like football 'fans'...

I said it last night Beard didn’t look that bad compared to recent form but he was starting at a low base. A good take at the KO and he used himself more in line outs near their line which he usually ducks. Those are his basic job however he offers nothing around the park and last night our maul actually improved when he went off. Osprey fans and fans of Beard always point this out as his big strength well last night it wasn’t. 

However he is not good enough for international rugby compare him to Rowlands, now our most important player must be wrapped up in cotton wool for Aussie game, he was immense last night and Daf Jenkins is an athlete 13 tackles in 15 minutes I know Fiji were pressing for that time but he gets around the park like a 7.

So yes an improvement but he was very average at best. 

Quite. After Beard's awful performance in the last 'friendly' game, I would not even have had him in the squad. He is nowhere near what a test second row should be.

Going to bungalow thomas on advice how to beat the fijians is akin to asking frank bruno how to beat mike tyson. The nerve of the man to act as some kind of guru , he is clueless. Hes also a despicable human being

I have to laugh at the irony here, the ref and both AR's were ......... English

Wales can move forward to the next game with optimism. Fiji and Australia are set for another epic encounter. Good luck to both.

Very close to my thinking - I posted a team on the BBC 'who would you pick?' site which only differed in hooker - but agree that Lake should start if fit (I'd put Dee in), 8 (but your idea of giving Faletau game time is a good one - I had Basham at 8 and Lydiate at 6). The only difference in the backs was that I'd protect LRZ and so started Sanjay on the wing.

Would have thought that was obvious SA.."there's NOTHING on top"

(metaphorically speaking)

Agree with the above, and pretty much the team I would be picking,in line with Aberfan

I reckon its essential that Smith and Henry Thomas get a chance to show their worth.

we certainly need other options to Domachowski and Lewis for Aussies (even off bench).

Id go with something like this apart from beard. no point playing him lets try the other locks

is anscomble fit now? If so itd be great to see him get a good hour under his belt

this is an ideal game to play everyone and rest a few first teamers a bit. though hard to do with just 2 scrum halves and no real specialist 8

All that players, supporters & commentators want is fairness & consistency across the board. Curry's tackle was worthy of a red card but so was the tackle on the Scottish No 8 which didn't even get penalised. That is what makes keyboard warriors spout utter nonsense. Of course some decisions are very borderline and you cannot blame officials for sometimes getting it wrong but the non red for Kriel was senseless. 

I didn't see/notice the Kriel incident in real time, and it wasn't replayed on French TV - but the consensus seems to be that he was very lucky indeed. 

In general, the moaners about Curry would do better to argue that others should have had a red, rather than make pathetic excuses for an essentially reckless and stupid tackle.

Because they keep making silly mistakes!!!!!!! For your information even if it was minimal contact to the head it is still a penalty.

I have watched the slow motion replay of the Kriel incident and (for once) I agree with Erasmus.

The contact was very slight and Kriel looked to be backing off, so rugby incident seems to be the correct call.

Most of the confusion over high tackles seems to stem from the total lack of consistency in the way the Laws are applied. That is something that clearly needs sorting.

I think you may be missing the point here. For there to be any contact between Kriel's head & the ball carrier he must have been too high to make a legal tackle. That is the whole point of the rules. Very rarely are we going to see a tackler purposely looking to hurt someone but the rules are there to lower tackle heights. 

Look at the replays, the reverse angle shows contact with the ball at chest high first. So for me the tackle was legal.

I know that targeting the ball, ie chest high, is now an illegal tackle at community level. But I dont believe this tackle is illegal at professional level. 

On Sunday night probably half of Wales tackles were chest high targeting the ball.

i am not suggesting that targeting the ball is illegal - what I am suggesting is that coaching targeting the ball is fraught with danger bearing in mind the current safety rules & should be discouraged. 

If Erasmus is “wrong” to coach his players to target the ball then so is Gatland and all the other World Cup coaches, because every team is tackling this way.

If the Laws concerning height of tackle are lowered, then obviously this will change. But at the moment its a legal tackle.

I was born in Glasfryn maternity hospital in Llanelli...West Wales.....so I ain't English...Irish or a biased foreigner. 

Fantastic game of rugby end to end stuff with some superb skills, tackling, guts and brilliance on display.

But I felt for Fiji......when they were parked on our tryline with five penalties to them...no yellow given and then we attack the same area and its a yellow card....come on people....you cant dress that bias into anything other than a refs bias.....I was embarrassed how he reffed the game.

Yes everyone says you can't have a pop at the ref....utter tosh...when you see it and you ignore it cos you want your team to win...no matter what ....stuff that...be honest we were lucky ...very lucky to win. Some of the Welsh play was superb...a lot of the Fiji play was sublime and I actually love rugby and love brilliance....that last pass could have been a defeat....id be surprised if that ref is given another game in this tournament...at least Whitehouse displays his bias openly.

I've talked to Welsh supporters in work...all die hard nutters from Neath,  Bridgend and Cardiff and to a man everyone said Fiji deserved more and the ref was diabolical......

And like a crap sadistic manager....he pulls the strings.

I disagree ....Samoa got away with endless cheap shots over the years

If there's been any  favoritism  in rugby its gone New Zealand's way 

The filth theyve gotten away with is incredible 

What exactly are you disagreeing with Roy? I made no comment with regard to Samoa/tier 2 countries making what are now illegal tackles & your point about NZ rather supports my comments. 

I am pretty certain that when Samoa made those cheap shots they were probably penalised. Specifically if you think Wales giving away 4/5 penalties within 5 minutes within their 22 is not a case for a card then so be it - I just disagree. 

Roy is not exactly wrong, but I think he is referring to an earlier era before cards - refs would normally award a penalty, but were very reluctant in those days to send anyone off - and there were no YCs then, so no 'halfway house'. Some of the Islanders' tackling was pretty brutal back then....

Perhaps you can inform me what in my post Roy is disagreeing with Aber because I have no idea. My comments are to do with the consistency of refereeing over the opening weekend.