RADRADRA, REF CHAT AND THE WELSH SKIPPER
Radradra, ref chat and AWJ
THERE are games where you’d struggle to fill a highlights reel and then there is Wales vs Fiji.
Six tries, four disallowed tries, four yellow cards, six players leaving the field through injury and a human wrecking ball by the name of Semi Radradra was enough incident to leave the most rapacious of rugby fans sated and there will be a hint of sadness that the Fijians have left the World Cup party.
Wales, for their part, will be left to piece back together their rib-cages after a game of quite frightening ferocity safe in the knowledge that they’ve rode a storm made in the Pacific Islands. Warren Gatland can plan for a quarter-final showdown with an insurgent French squad, while Typhoon Hagibis wreaks havoc.
Wales have mastered the bob and weave
Muhammad Ali was the master at the rope-a-dope. Seemingly looking like he was one punch on the snozzle away from waving the white flag, he’d administer the knock-out blow. It felt like that for Wales when Liam Williams cantered in under the posts on 68 minutes.
From struggling to close-out games for a decade, in the last 18 months, Wales have grasped that uncanny knack of playing imperfectly yet closing a game out.
This hasn’t happened by coincidence.
After summoning the spirit of Rorke’s drift against the Wallabies, against France in the Six Nations they started off sluggishly, going 16-0 down in the rain of Paris, finished strongly against England after chasing the game, and held out against a Scotland side unleashing hell and damnation at Murrayfield, yet had enough composure and wherewithal to see it out. With 17 wins in 20 Tests, it’s a habit they don’t want to lose, especially when playing knockout rugby.
Fiji put pressure on Wales like no other side
Fiji’s power, ability to offload in the tackle and propensity for unstructured play made them an almost unique opponent for Wales. The last time they were rattled like that was the 2016 tour of New Zealand when they were just unable to live with the All Blacks’ speed of thought and deed.
Against Fiji, it forced them to make numerous poor decisions; Gareth Davies ran up a blind alley, Dan Biggar fizzed a pass Alun Wyn Jones clearly wasn’t expecting and as a collective, they kicked imprecisely; to the backfield allowing Josua Tuisova, Semi Radradra and Kini Murimurivalu too much space and with their aerial bombs, which they failed to collect.
It made Wales doubt themselves for periods of the game. Worst of all, however, they missed 31 tackles, as they were bumped off, swatted and stepped. The upside for Wales is that no other side plays rugby like the Fijians. That will be a great source of relief.
Wales’ set-piece continues to improve
Wales’ pack was on the wobbly side during the pre-World Cup warm-ups with scrum penalties going against them at an alarming regularity against England and Ireland. For that reason, they struggled to gain a foothold in games the sight of Welsh props peeling away in dismay became a disconcerting trait. The selection of Wyn Jones has been a masterstroke.
With Tomas Francis on port and Jones on starboard, the set-piece is rock-solid and gives Wales a platform to gain frontfoot ball to attack the opposition. It sounds obvious but without it, Wales would be struggling. Twelve tries in three Tests is the by-product of improved stability.
Countless times yesterday, Wales were able to hold the Fiji pack at bay which allowed for Ross Moriarty to enjoy his best game in a Welsh shirt for some time. Fiji gained some parity late on but the Welsh coal-face had done its job.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again
This may have first been uttered by Robert the Bruce before Bannockburn but it could easily have been attributed to Josh Adams’ 65 minutes on the field. The Carmarthen-born wing endured a torrid first nine minutes when he was left for roadkill in the path of Josua Tuisova, as ‘the bus’