‘It was absolutely brutal’: Louis Rees-Zammit relieved after Wales’ opening win
Louis Rees-Zammit admits undisciplined Wales survived a major scare and have significant room for improvement after edging an “absolutely brutal” Rugby World Cup classic against Fiji.
The 22-year-old tournament debutant claimed the third of his country’s four tries to help build an 18-point advantage with just 10 minutes to go on a breathless evening in Bordeaux.
But ferocious Fiji roared back and threatened to pull off a stunning Pool C comeback before falling agonisingly short as Semi Radradra’s costly late knock-on saw Wales scrape a thrilling 32-26 success.
Wing Rees-Zammit, who was limping following the full-time whistle, was the exposed man tasked with stopping the rampaging Radradra before gleefully booting the fumbled ball into touch.
“I was stressed,” he told the PA news agency. “They had a massive overlap and I was trying to call players round, but we were getting sucked in.
“When I saw the ball go over, I was like: ‘I’m going to have to try and go low on him here and hopefully get him out’.
“Unfortunately for him he knocked it on and we won the game.
“It was absolutely brutal. It lasted 82 minutes and we had to dig deep and in the majority of our game our discipline let us down, but I think ultimately to get a win is the most important thing.
“You could see it was a brutal game and I’m a bit sore, but a decent recovery now and hopefully I will be ready for next week.”
Wales conceded 17 penalties across the course of a gripping curtain-raiser against opposition who recently upset England at Twickenham.
Rees-Zammit, who was floored by a thunderous tackle from Vinaya Habosi minutes before his score, will look to shrug off his knock in time for next weekend’s match against Portugal in Nice ahead of meetings with Australia and Georgia.
“I don’t think we played at our best at all,” continued the Gloucester player.
“We’ve got a lot to improve and that’s the best thing because we can get a lot better.
“To beat Fiji at not a hundred per cent is great. We know they are a devastating team.”
The Prince of Wales was among a capacity crowd treated to undoubtedly the most entertaining match of the competition so far.
Josh Adams, George North and Elliot Dee were also on the scoresheet for Warren Gatland’s men, while fly-half Dan Biggar added two penalties and three conversions in an engrossing bonus-point victory.
North, who was on the receiving end of an outburst from team-mate Biggar for not kicking the ball into touch just before the break, echoed the relief expressed by Rees-Zammit at the end of a “must-win” encounter.
“That was a proper Test match,” said the centre. “We’re chuffed to get the result, we needed that to start us off well in this World Cup.
“But we’ve got to look at ourselves very quickly. We know what the issues are: discipline and playing in the right areas.
“It was a must-win for us, we needed that to get us on the right path. It was huge for us and we’ve got to tidy up and turnaround to the next one.
“The way Fiji have developed, they were probably the favourites. They’ve got the physicality and flair that they’re known for but they’re also a well-drilled side.
“They’ve got the set piece now to fight and compete with the best of them and their form coming into the World Cup really showed.”
Speaking of Radradra’s late error, the 31-year-old Ospreys man added: “That’s Test-match rugby, you play on the edge of sword, it’s the one per cent (difference).
“You’ve got to take your opportunities and luckily enough they didn’t take that one.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
34 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to comments