It's never a dull affair when Fiji are in town. Well actually... Fiji just took part in one of the worst games of rugby witnessed at the Millennium stadium in years, perhaps ever in the venues history. All parties were accountable for the poor spectacle: Fiji couldn't quite decide how they wanted to play; Wales tried to hard to score; and referee Pascal Gauzere constantly slowed the game down. Wales opened their account early and impressively with the forwards working hard to obtain field position and a clever back's move to put North away in the corner. Not long after a switch of direction from Rhys Priestland and a dead-eye miss pass sent Cuthbert in too. A penalty try came on the verge of half time, which gave Wales a (shaky) lead. The second half was where the game really fell apart, both teams barely able to hold on to possession, and Gauzere referring to the TMO what felt like every five minutes. It was a scoreless second half until practically the final play where Wales once again threw an intercept pass and gifted Fijian man-mountain Nandolo with a try under the posts.
So what contributed to a dull rendition of a game which normally is full of tries? Firstly French referee Gauzere should take some of the responsibility for the poor quality of the game. The number of times that he went to TMO referral slowed the game down incredibly, granted some of the reasons for "going upstairs" were reasonable, but some were completely illogical and just bored the crowd and the players. It wasn't only the stop start nature of TMO usage that should be mentioned, a significant number of times Gauzere denied quick tap penalties for no real reason which seriously stifled the flowing attack that Fiji bring. Even with the use of TMO, pundits and supporters alike are likely to disagree with the decisions over two major events in the game, at two points in the second half it looked like Wales had scored a try to extend their lead. First after multiple driving mauls it finally seemed Dan Lydiate had got the ball down over the line, by combination of two camera angles it was possible to determine that the ball was over the line and grounded before Fiji lifted it away, yet the decision was no try and Wales fluffed the ensuing lineout. The second disallowed try was for an even more inexplicable reason, after Liam Williams (one of the few shining lights of the game) had made a characteristic break from fullback, half busting a tackle before rolling back to his feet as the tackler fell away and picking the ball up off his feet. When this moment was watched back by Gauzere on the screen, he deemed Williams to have got back to his feet after a completed tackle and gave a penalty to the Fijians. A potential fourteen points disappeared from the game, for reasons lost on most viewers, which really could have brought the game to life.
However the true quality of a game is not determined by the officials but by the players. Fiji weren't themselves that was apparent from the outset, for a team famed for attacking from anywhere with offloads aplenty and bravery by the bucket load, they were surprisingly willing to kick the ball from nine or ten. They were also responsible for numerous handling errors and mistakes around the park that stuttered the continuity of the game.
Really though the Welsh players have to take the majority of the blame for the poor quality of the game. In the first half Wales were showing patience and intelligence, controlling the game and striking only when opportunities arose. Using forward power to bring the Fijian defence in, before slick passing and clever attacking lines made good inroads towards the try line. However, slowly errors crept into their game, spilling of the ball in contact, no support at breakdown and passes gone awry. Yet the second half came and those little errors could be fixed in the changing room. Instead Wales came out in worse shape than when they went in. The errors were still there and in greater number, giving Fiji easy ball in the contact area which denied any sort of continuity, the lineout collapsed entirely with no secure ball coming from set piece it meant that any territory gains made by the Welsh were not kept as Fiji kept clearing their lines. In the final quarter the scrum collapsed as well, with a scrum actually being won against the head as Fiji begun to dominate the set piece. It was bewildering why the Wales management didn't replace Scott Baldwin at hooker in an attempt to stem the tide of scrappy ball for Mike Phillips.
Speaking of the Welsh management, why wasn't the substitutes bench used to maximal efficiency? Gatland has always said he believes his team is fitter than most, and their ability to keep going at the end of the game. While we haven't seen this so much against the big southern hemisphere giants (SANZAR), against the smaller teams it has reaped rewards. A crucial part of that plan has always been the intelligent use of the bench to keep the team fresh and full of stamina at crucial times. So when the game was obviously slowing down, and getting gritty, wouldn't it make sense to bring on some replacements who could up the tempo of the game and shift the ball away from the huge collisions that were causing so much lost possession. On the bench were sitting, Rhodri Williams, James Hook and Cory Allen, all players who can move the ball around and have very quick speed of thought. It could have made all the difference switching the infamously slow passer of Phillips for Rhodri Williams to get the ball away from the breakdown, or switching gainline passer Priestland for the maverick of James Hook just to follow the trend and break up the game a little. But perhaps the change that could have made the biggest change in Welsh fortunes would have been the introduction of Cory Allen, although it would have been difficult to justify taking of Robert or Scott Williams. Personally Scott Williams was having trouble with getting the ball away before contact, something that Cory Allen is highly skilled in, the ability to move the ball to the two dangerous wingers while still committing the heavy hitting Fijians could have lead to more attacking threat.
All in all it was a messy game caused by all parties and not fixed by any either. If Wales were to play their next game - against the World Champions - then the scoreline would easily be in the 50's against the men in red. Looking ahead to next week, it goes without saying that Wales have to step up their game. More specifically there are three facets of the game that need to be sorted out:
- The lineout MUST be fixed
- The handling errors/easy turnovers of possession have to be cut out
- Wales must be calmer through the phases
Suggested Team for Wales vs New Zealand
Backs: Liam Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Jonathan Davies *, Jamie Roberts, George North, Dan Biggar *, Rhys Webb *
Forwards: Gethin Jenkins, Richard Hibbard, Samson Lee, Alun Wyn Jones, Jake Ball, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Talupe Faletau
Substitutes: Scott Baldwin, Paul James, Rhodri Jones, Luke Charteris, Justin Tipuric, Mike Phillips, Rhys Priestland, Alex Cuthbert
(*) dependant on recovery from injury
The team above is heavily dependent on players to recover from injury. Jonathan Davies is widely believed to be fit, but might not be chosen due to lack of game time, however his talent and knowledge of Shaun Edwards' defence is undeniable.
Prediction: All Blacks by less than 10
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