A wounded and depleted Wales outfit will need to bounce back from defeat against the Springboks when they face Fiji this weekend.
A smarting Welsh side will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to a Frans Steyn inspired Springbok outfit when they welcome the Flying Fijians to the Millenium Stadium this Sunday. The visitors will be looking for a far more polished performance this weekend after stuttering to a 13-43 victory over minnows Spain.
Wales v Fiji
Sunday 14 November
Millennium Stadium
17:15
To Win (80 Mins)
Wales 1/8 | Draw 30/1 | Fiji 5/1
Handicap
Wales (-13.5) 9/10 | Fiji (+13.5) 9/10
The Dragons will feel rather hard done by after their defeat to the Springboks. Not only were they tamed by Frans Steyn who hasn’t played much rugby this past year but they also had a pitch invader get in their way while they were sniffing around the Springboks’ try line.
The Welsh, who tend to fire at the start of the year and falter in Autumn, are now zero from two Autumn Nations Series as last weekend’s 18-23 defeat to the Boks followed a 16-54 humbling at the hands of the All Blacks. With the Fijians likely to provide less threatening opposition than their previous two opponents, Wales’ head coach Wayne Pivac has made some surprising changes to his starting XV.
The one injury-enforced change sees Thomas Young start on the openside flank with Aarong Wainwright missing out. Josh Adams is set to start at 13 who will be joined in the midfield by Johnny Williams. Louis Rees-Zammit switches wings allowing Alex Cuthbert to get a start on the right wing.
While Pivac’s opposite number Vern Cotter and John McKee will be looking to take full advantage of a possible understrength Wales side running out on Sunday, their side will need to be a lot better than they were against Spain if they are to cause an upset. They really struggled during the first half of their game and were it not for a late flurry of tries the scoreline would have been far less impressive than 13-43.
Verdict: Fiji (+13.5) 9/10
While I fully expect a Welsh win here, I don’t reckon it’ll be by much. As such, I’m on the Fijian plus for Sunday.
