Rugby-Wales coach Pivac has breakdown concerns after win over Fiji

A lot of offloading and we talked about not letting them get too many away." Pivac will be relieved to have ended a three-game losing streak, and his team on Saturday face Australia, who have already lost to Scotland and England this month. "They’re well-coached.


Reuters | Cardiff | Updated: 14-11-2021 23:58 IST | Created: 14-11-2021 23:58 IST
Rugby-Wales coach Pivac has breakdown concerns after win over Fiji
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Wales coach Wayne Pivac said the red card for Fiji wing Eroni Sau spurred the visitors into action as they ran the home side close before a flurry of late tries saw them to a flattering 38-23 victory nL1N2S50EN at the Principality Stadium on Saturday. Sau's first half sending off for direct contact to the head of Wales centre Johnny Williams was the correct decision, and was later exacerbated by two further yellow cards for the Fijians, who still clung on in the contest and led the autumn international clash 23-14 just past the hour mark.

"They (Fiji) played well and the red card galvanised them. They had nothing to lose. We didn't get a flow on building phases and wearing them down," Pivac told reporters. "It took time to do that because of our inaccuracy at the breakdown. They're strong over the ball and that's a concern in how we had separation with the ball carrier and clear-out.

"Everything we talked about came to fruition. A lot of offloading and we talked about not letting them get too many away." Pivac will be relieved to have ended a three-game losing streak, and his team on Saturday face Australia, who have already lost to Scotland and England this month.

"They're well-coached. We expect them to come and be physical. It'll be free-flowing and they're hurt at the minute," Pivac said. He has a number of injury concerns for the match, including wing Josh Adams, who was set to start at outside centre against Fiji but pulled out minutes before kick-off with a calf issue.

"Josh felt something in his leg in the warm-up. He wanted to start the game but we weren't going to let that happen. Hopefully that won't keep him out for too long," Pivac added. "We had a couple of head knocks. (Prop) WillGriff John and (lock) Will Rowlands. With a six-day turnaround, we might have to dig deeper into the squad.

"(Number eight) Aaron Wainwright should be ready though and (prop) Tomas Francis is already into the (concussion) protocols."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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