Welsh captain Ryan Jones is wary of Fiji’s attacking game
Welsh captain Ryan Jones has warned his team that they must not get involved in a running, open game with Fiji. The two teams will meet at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Friday 19 November.
Jones has had first-hand experience of how good Fiji can be when they play their unstructured open game.
In 2007, Fiji defeated Wales 38-34 and knocked the Welsh out of the World Cup in what was a shock result. Speaking at a press conference, Jones said, "Three years ago, almost to the day, they gave Welsh rugby a huge shock. They got a result they deserved
that day. But that goes to bed."
Jones was adamant that it would be foolish to take Fiji on in a battle of running rugby. "We don't want to go and beat Fiji at their own game, we want to impose ourselves on the game for 80 minutes," said the Welsh captain.
Fiji have a number of talented players in their team and when the game becomes open, they can be extremely dangerous.
But the Fiji set-piece is poor and Wales will aim to attack the Fijian line-out and scrum, while out-half Dan Biggar is expected to control the game by kicking for territory rather than running the ball.
Jones highlighted that Wales did not need to be drawn into an attacking and unstructured contest. "We have to go out and play, it's about us, we don't want to be lulled into playing 15-a-side sevens."
The forward insisted that the Welsh team would not be complacent and that they were completely focused on the Fiji Test. "[We are] working hard this week to focus on this game. Not the New Zealand game. Not the Six Nations. Not the World Cup. It's about
the guys with the jersey this weekend [who] have got the opportunity to go out and do their best."
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