- Title: Wales and Fiji focused ahead of their Pool D encounter
- Date: 8th October 2019
- Summary: OITA, JAPAN (OCTOBER 8, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WALES TEAM WALKING OUT INTO STADIUM PLAYERS' FEET ON GRASS WALES TEAM ON OITA STADIUM PITCH WELSH, RUGBY WORLD CUP AND FIJIAN FLAGS WALES HEAD COACH WARREN GATLAND TALKING WITH COLLEAGUE WALES TEAM CAPTAIN ALUN WYN JONES STRETCHING WITH TEAM MATES VARIOUS OF STRETCHING MEDIA WORKING VARIOUS OF TEAM PASSING BALL WYN JONES THROWING BALL VARIOUS OF TRAINING BALL ROLLING WALES NEWS CONFERENCE STARTING WITH ASSISTANT COACH ROBIN MCBRYDE, PLAYERS WYN JONES AND ROSS MORIARTY NEWS CONFERENCE TAKING PLACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WALES RUGBY TEAM ASSISTANT COACH, ROBIN MCBRYDE, SAYING: "We're in a good place, we're obviously on a 10-day break so we've been able to get recharged. From a forward’s point of view, we're in a better shape than we ever have been, really. Everyone's fit and well, 18 players, ready to go. So, yeah, we've benefited from these days off and ready for the final push in these big two games." CAMERAMEN WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) WALES RUGBY TEAM PLAYER, ROSS MORIARTY, SAYING: "We know it's going to be tough and it definitely won't be easy, but we've watched obviously their all games over the past few weeks and we've done our analysis. We know what we have to do in defence, to close them down, and we know what we're looking at in attack to get points on the board. We know they've got some great individuals and so do we so we're just going to put everything out there and make sure that we do the job." EXTERIOR OF OITA STADIUM STADIUM ROOF/FIJI RUGBY TEAM POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPH VARIOUS OF FIJI TEAM POSING FIJI TEAM HUDDLE TOGETHER ON PITCH TEAM SEPARATING AFTER HUDDLE/PLAYER KICKING BALL IN THE AIR CAMERAMAN FIJI TEAM COACH JOHN MCKEE ON PITCH PLAYERS RUNNING LEGS OF PLAYERS PLAYERS TRAINING PLAYERS PASSING BALL PLAYER RUNNING WITH BALL WHILE TEAM MATES ALL SHOUT VARIOUS OF FIJI TEAM TRAINING FIJI COACH JOHN MCKEE AND TEAM CAPTAIN DOMINIKO WAKANIBUROTU ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) FUJI TEAM COACH, JOHN MCKEE, SAYING: "For us a lot of patience in our playing, we know what a good defensive side Wales are, and we are going to work really hard to build the pressure to create opportunities for us to score tries." NEWS CONFERENCE TAKING PLACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIJI RUGBY TEAM CAPTAIN, DOMINIKO WAKANIBUROT, SAYING: "Yes, you know rugby is interesting that way, it can go either way. At the moment we're just focused on what we need to do, on all the things we need to focus on against Wales tomorrow. So all the little results on the outside, we can't really worry about that, we just worry about ourselves and focus on the game tomorrow." NEWS CONFERENCE ENDING
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 10:54
- Keywords: Wales Welsh Fiji Rugby World Cup Japan 2019
- Location: OITA, JAPAN
- City: OITA, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Rugby Union,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001B08J5TR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Recharged and refreshed from a long break between Rugby World Cup games, Wales' forwards have never been more ready for battle as they gear up for their group match against Fiji on Wednesday (October 9), assistant coach Robin McBryde said.
Wales have not been in action since edging out Australia in the heavyweight Pool D clash on Sept. 29 and bring a clean bill of health into the match at Oita Stadium as they look to sew up a quarter-final berth.
Victory over Fiji would guarantee a quarter-final spot, while another win against emerging rugby nation Uruguay in their final pool game on Oct. 13 would ensure they finish top of the group, securing what should be a kinder route through the quarters.
Warren Gatland's side are not taking the Fijians lightly, however, and have made only two back row changes from the starting 15 that fended off the Wallabies 29-25.
Loose forward Ross Moriarty has been promoted from the bench and will start at number eight, while James Davies makes his World Cup debut at openside flanker in place of the rested Justin Tipuric.
Fiji will look to put pressure on Wales' rejigged back row in their Rugby World Cup clash on Wednesday as the Pacific islanders seek to keep their faint quarter-finals hopes alive.
Having lost both opening pool games against Australia and Uruguay, victory in their final clash against Wales would keep Fiji in contention for the quarter-finals, but they would need either the Welsh or the Wallabies to slip up in their final matches to go through. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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