From Shock to the Greatest of Escapes: Wales v Fiji

It’s one of rugby’s greatest pleasures (as a spectator) to watch Fiji play, and they arrive at the Cardiff City Stadium following their first-ever win on Welsh soil against Wales.

Dewi Lake spoke following Wales’ Captain’s Run about his expectation of facing Fiji and highlighted the backline as a particular threat. That said, the backline includes the likes of the powerful centre combination of Josua Tuisova and Semi Radradra. This is without highlighting the dominant forces in the pack that Fiji have at their disposal.

That’s why watching Fiji is such a joyous experience, but for Lake and his side it’ll be the complete opposite, as they’ll aim to stop the fast-paced style of this Fijian side and look to claim the spoils in the pair's sixteenth-ever Test match meeting.

Before the pair face off, Ruck Rugby looks at some of the incredible moments between the pair that had many supporters on the edge of their seats, for good and for bad (particularly Welsh fans).

This Test match at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France stands out as being the marquee encounter between the pair, and for Wales it’s for all the wrong reasons. For Fiji, it wasn’t a nightmare; in fact, it was the complete opposite in Nantes.

Albeit this generation of Welsh rugby players would have been in the embryonic stages of playing rugby as children, those who were there or watched on from afar have this day stained in their memory.

For context, Wales needed the win to qualify for a quarter-final meeting against South Africa in Marseille. However, Fiji that day produced one of the biggest wins in Rugby World Cup history to the demise of Gareth Jenkins' reign as Wales head coach.

Fiji won narrowly that afternoon, 38-34.

Those shock defeats have become something of a distant memory for Fiji, who have in recent times become a dominant force in World Rugby. They sit ninth in the World Rugby rankings, whilst Wales still find themselves situated outside of the Top 10 in eleventh.

On paper, Fiji should be favourites for this weekend’s Nations Championship match, but Wales themselves, under head coach Steve Tandy, are back on the rise. It makes for this match, out of the opening games in the competition, the most intriguing.

That perhaps is due to the pair's last encounter during the 2024 autumn internationals. In a match that in some ways wasn’t how many expected Fiji to play, they claimed the spoils 24-19 in the ugliest of fashions.

Scarlets’ Blair Murray scored for Wales on debut, and Fiji found themselves down to 14-men for large parts of the match. Fiji bit down on their gumshields to become triumphant, but did so in unorthodox Flying Fijians style. No wonder they come into the match as favourites this weekend.

Arguably, this encounter in Bordeaux during the 2023 Rugby World Cup is perhaps the greatest of all time when it comes to matches between Fiji and Wales. This victory was one of Wales' greatest escapes, and then head coach Warren Gatland knew that.

This is without even talking about the 2019 World Cup meeting in Japan, when Wales wing Josh Adams claimed a hat-trick. Times have changed since then, and that gap between the class of Wales that day in Oita has considerably narrowed or even shifted nations.

They are now underdogs for almost every Test match they play in. Whereas the Fijians are becoming a nation, sides fear to play because they don’t quite know which side will turn up.

That’s exactly what happened in September 2023: Wales were on the ropes for large parts, fending off an onslaught that wasn’t maverick by Fiji. Wales were lucky. Australia, the other competitor in the pair’s group, was not fortunate.

The enduring fixture was Wales’ reality check and a statement to the whole rugby world that Fiji are no longer outsiders but contenders.

This afternoon they take on Wales, expecting to win before further Tests against England and Scotland this summer, where they’ll back their abilities again. They are now a dominant force in world rugby. For Wales, today could mark the beginning of a long road this summer.