Wales fans slept soundly in their beds on Tuesday night knowing that the new 24-team World Cup format meant they could not be drawn in a pool with Fiji of the 6th Tournament in a row. Unfortunately, against all odds, the two sides have been drawn in such a way that means their meeting in the R16 is an overwhelmingly likely outcome.
Welsh fans are still haunted by their defeat to Fiji in 2007, despite the fact they have beaten them in all 4 world cups since (including a 66-0 hammering in 2011). Now, though, the fear will be justified. Fiji should have beaten Wales in the opening game of the 2023 tournament, and would have were it not for the iconic Semi Radradra dropping the ball cold with the line at his mercy.
Since then, Fiji have beaten Wales in Cardiff and established themselves as a stable top 10 nation capable of giving almost anyone a hard game. The Fijians don’t often play at home but the surroundings of Australia in 2027 will be more familiar to them than to their Welsh would-be opponents.
These two sides meeting is dependant on Fiji beating Canada (which their B team does every year in the PNC) and Spain (who have rattle but not beat rotated Fiji teams in recent years. The Fijians have picked up a habit of fumbling a game at recent World Cups, losing to Uruguay in 2019 and Portugal in 2023, but the shorter format should mitigate against that. Their pool deciding game against Argentina should be a thriller, with both nations more than comfortable playing 7s style rugby.
Wales, even in their beleaguered state, should still be too good for Tonga and Zimbabwe. Their pool decider will be against England will bring back fond memories of the 2015 game and even some highlights of the game in the same country back in 2003 where Wales lost but did score some nice tries. If the 2015 victory felt like a miracle, we’ll need a whole new word to describe a Welsh win in 2027.
The winner of the R16 game will (probably) have to face France, who would be hot favourites for such a game. Therefore, the winning of that game will likely be Wales or Fiji’s finest hour of the 2027 World Cup. Still, at least they both dodged playing Australia this time.