Wales held on to claim a vital 32-26 victory over Fiji in their opening Rugby World Cup match; Dan Biggar lost his cool at team-mate George North when he didn't kick the ball to touch under pressure just before half-time; Wales play Portugal in their next match
Monday 11 September 2023 15:04, UK
Wales coach Warren Gatland said he saw little wrong with Dan Biggar's outburst at team-mate George North during Sunday's thrilling 32-26 victory over Fiji in their Pool C opener at the Rugby World Cup.
Fly-half Biggar gestured to the stands and berated North for not kicking the ball into touch to bring on the half-time break when Wales were under pressure in their own 22 and holding a narrow 18-14 lead.
"I didn't have a problem with it. It's about making people accountable," said Gatland.
"There's nothing wrong with players in terms of challenging each other. We want that as part of the group so that everyone is accountable.
"For me, that peer pressure is huge in terms of that and taking responsibility. Those sort of criticism aren't personal. We talk about it being a point of care.
"It's about the team getting better and individuals getting better because we need to be comfortable with being critical."
Wales were hanging on at the end and Fiji could have snatched victory had centre Semi Radradra not knocked on with the try line in sight.
"I'm delighted with the win but we made it a lot harder for ourselves than we needed to, made some dumb decisions in the last 15 minutes," Gatland added.
"We'll have a thorough review that we need to go through, some of the discipline and stuff. I'm a little bit angry about a few things but the positive is we won.
"I thought we were in control of the game but we know what Fiji are like and what they're capable of and we lost a bit of composure.
"There were periods which were excellent and were there learning, you know, with all the hard work that we've put in.
"And there was some times where when you're in control of the game, it's about your man management. And I kind of go back to four or five years ago when we'd been through this process for the team as it was growing and developing, and it took us a bit of time to actually be able to comfortably implement sort of the game management and understanding and players not giving away stupid penalties and putting us under pressure.
"And then so today there was incidents of that. And like I said, it's making sure that we're honest and we review that and we learn from those situations about how we manage things going forward and and everyone getting better."
Jonathan Humphreys insists the pressure is not off Wales despite the thrilling victory over Fiji.
Wales face remaining Pool C games against Portugal, Australia and Georgia, and the knockout phase is now undoubtedly in sight following a statement win.
"The big one for us is Portugal", said Wales assistant coach, Humphreys.
"We did well in a lot of areas, but there is still massive room for growth for us,
"It is not an easy game, it is their first game in this tournament - they are a tough side to play against, they are very skilful.
"We don't see this as pressure off. It is just the next game and we have to perform."
Wales next face Portugal on Saturday September 16, in their second Rugby World Cup Pool C game, at Stade de Nice (4.45pm kick-off BST).
Fiji are next in action against Australia on Sunday September 17, for their second Rugby World Cup Pool C match, at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne (4.45pm kick-off BST).
