Wales must take no chances - Lee Byrne

Former Wales international Lee Byrne says they need to “take no chances” against Fiji or their sensational Pool A win over England won’t mean anything.

Warren Gatland’s team are on the verge of the quarter-finals and can take a step closer when they play Fiji tomorrow. Their final pool match is against Australia at Twickenham on 10 October.

“The win was incredible against England,” said Byrne. “I knew there was going to be around three points in the game. In a test match that big, it is always going to be close.

“But the side now need to take no chances against Fiji so we can then focus fully on the Australia game next week.”

Byrne, 35, starred and scored for Wales in their historic 19-26 win against England in 2008 which was Wales’ first win at Twickenham for 20 years.

The former Ospreys and Clermont full-back added: They went to Twickenham on Saturday and with no disrespect to the players involved, they played a second string team.

“A few of the players out injured may have played, but the current squad players stepped up and sealed an incredible win and properly one of the best they have produced.

“Warren has picked a strong side to play Fiji (which includes Matthew Morgan, Tyler Moran and Alex Cuthbert) so it’s clear he isn’t taking any chances. They went to Twickenham and got that world class result so it’s important that they remain focused.

Gatland’s side were already missing Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb and Jonathon Davies due to injury before the tournament and Wales suffered more casualties on course to their win against England with Scott Williams, Liam Williams and Hallam Amos all having to come off at Twickenham.

Dan Biggar has been on kicking duties since Halfpenny’s absence and Byrne believes his performance on Saturday was full of confidence and thinks that Wales have nothing to lose now for the rest of the World Cup due to the injuries which they have picked up.

He added: Dan is great kicker. With the Ospreys his kicking record his second to none and his percentage rate his up there with Leigh’s for Wales.

“He would’ve been confident going into that game even though the pressure was on him, his overall game was pretty impressive.

“We have Fiji tomorrow and I think Warren will carry on playing the likes of Dan and his best team.

“I said last week, they haven’t got anything to lose anymore, and that continues due to the injuries just rolling in and now I think it is a case of just playing our best team for the rest of the tournament.”

“They have come unstuck against Fiji in the last few years at the Millennium Stadium and we’ve probably put weaker sides out in the past and we used to just scrape through.”

Byrne also felt that Fiji played well against England in the tournament opener and showed glimpses of what they can do against Australia.

“They did play well against England,” said Byrne. But, they have lost two key players in [Niko] Matawalu and [Nemani] Nadolo and they are huge loses for them as they are two of their best players at the moment.

“They will put a performance in but I do think Wales will take it again and go on to Australia. The just seem to be proving people wrong at the moment.

“Its incredible due to the injuries they have had, but it’s all about getting through this group stages and see who they have got in the quarters. It’s just one game at a time.”