WORLD CUP ALERT: Wales Rugby Statement Of Intent

Warren Gatland’s men made a statement of intent in winning the Six Nations in Cardiff yesterday.

Wales demolishing Ireland 25-7 in clinical fashion was a massive show of pride and power by the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians Pool D Rugby World Cup opponent.

Dismantling the previously highly-fancied Irish signals they are one of the form teams going into the 2019 RWC, which kicks off in September in Japan.

Gatland sings praises for his men saying ‘these boys will run through a brick wall for you.’ This is a good challenge for the John McKeecoached Fiji Airways Flying Fijians who are currently ranked 9th in the world and keen to prove their worth and also make a statement at the fouryearly global event.

We have been in the same pool with Wales in the last three RWC, winning once and losing twice.

After beating Wales 38-34 at the 2007 RWC in Paris, the Fijians succumbed to an embarrassing 0-66 trouncing in New Zealand four years later and 23-13 at the 2015 RWC in England.

As always, we are poles apart as far as our RWC preparation is concerned.

This is if we take into account the quality of the teams and competition we are involved in. After the Six Nations triumph, Wales will play England at home and away on August 11 and August 17 and Ireland on August 31 and September 7 as part its RWC prep.

McKee recently completed a three-day camp with the Europe-based Flying Fijians in Toulouse. They will then play for the Pacific Nations Cup against Japan on July 27 in Kamaishi before hosting Canada (August 3) and Samoa (August 10) at the ANZ Stadium.

The final build-up will be the home and away games against New Zealand Maori before they depart for Japan on September 6.

McKee has laid down the marker and planning confident that we can punch above our weight at the RWC to justify our current ranking.

We can achieve more than the Cup quarterfinal finish, which means we have to beat either Wales or Australia or both to progress, barring upsets against Uruguay and Georgia.

We could not have asked for a better preparation after winning the World Rugby Pacific Challenge on Saturday.

Disposing Tonga A (56-14) and, Junior Japan (3910) and Samoa A (48-16) by convincing margins shows that we have strength and depth in our local players which McKee can bank on.

Despite the financial constraints of being a tier two rugby nation, we need to prove we can compete with the best at the RWC.

It’s a global platform where we can also make a statement and make the world take notice..