Ronan O'Gara has hailed Wales' 39-24 victory over Fiji as the standout performance of the Nations Championship's opening weekend, with the La Rochelle coach praising the tactical discipline shown by Steve Tandy's side.
Wales end long losing run
Victories have been rare for Wales in recent years. Warren Gatland oversaw 14 straight Test defeats before departing, and interim coach Matt Sherratt ended an 18-Test losing streak in Japan last summer. Under Tandy, Wales have now beaten Japan, Italy, and Fiji in their last three campaigns.
Fiji entered the match as favourites, ranked ninth in the world compared to Wales' 11th place. However, Wales weathered a first-half onslaught of offloads and running rugby to secure a comfortable win at the Cardiff City Stadium.
O'Gara and Biggar analyse the victory
Speaking on ITV's The Debrief, former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar explained the key factors behind the win. 'When you play against Fiji, you want to keep the game as structured as possible. To do that, you have to do three things: the aerial contest has to be really good, you have to be physically good, and your set-piece has to be spot-on,' Biggar said.
'What Wales did yesterday, they mauled brilliantly and scrummed brilliantly. That allowed them to have field position to score points, with three maul tries. It's really good coaching not to engage.'
Biggar noted that Wales went off the top of the lineout only twice in the entire game, denying Fiji opportunities to disrupt. 'They stuck to their gameplan expertly. For a young team who haven't got much experience of winning, they showed a bit of a blueprint of how to beat Fiji,' he added.
O'Gara's bold statement
O'Gara described the win as 'a massive win for Wales' and declared it the performance of the weekend, despite other impressive results including France pushing New Zealand in Christchurch, Japan surprising Italy, Australia nearly beating Ireland, and Scotland romping to victory in Argentina.
'Not just to win, but to win in the manner that they did, I think you underestimate how good these guys are at rugby. Fiji are unbelievably good at rugby,' O'Gara said. 'But Wales didn't let them play the rugby they wanted to play, which for me shows alignment between a gameplan from the coaches implemented to the players who bought into it, who punished them in the 80 minutes.'
Biggar praises team connection
Biggar added: 'It shows the connection between the players and staff as well. They believe that's the way to play, to implement it and there's belief in the system and the gameplan.'
When O'Gara remarked that Wales 'didn't just make it up on Saturday', Biggar replied: 'That was built from Monday. A brilliant win for Wales.'
