Wales struggled to hold off fast-finishing Fiji to win 32-26 in the latest instalment of their entertaining Rugby World Cup rivalry on Sunday in Bordeaux.
PARIS — Wales struggled to hold off fast-finishing Fiji to win 32-26 in the latest instalment of their entertaining Rugby World Cup rivalry on Sunday in Bordeaux.
This match didn’t quite reach the level of Fiji's epic 38-34 win in 2007 but it wasn’t far off. Fiji produced some spellbinding rugby early on that had Welsh tacklers flapping at thin air, and summoned up one last flourish that nearly brought about a thrilling victory. The Springboks showed both sides of their game at Stade Velodrome where flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit bashed his way over in the 46th minute and winger Kurt-Lee Arendse flew onto a perfect cross-kick from flyhalf Manie Libbok three minutes later to make a narrow 6-3 lead at halftime suddenly comfortable.