Uruguay have been overpowered so far in the Rugby World Cup and they're penultimate game against Fiji should be no different says Ben Hathaway.
Fiji conclude their World Cup against Uruguay, who still have to play England on Saturday. Both can leave England with their heads held especially high. The thrilling offloads of the flying Fijians (how many second rows have you seen throw a hitch kick sidestep then offload before?) have been a great contrast to the dirge served up by England, and I don’t think you will find many sides who have gone 0/3 and have played as well. Sad to see Fiji leave, and arguably worse sides than them will make the quarter finals. Tough group.
Looking at Uruguay, they have looked more than capable of holding their own in the tight and haven’t really been ground down too much. Yet when Australia cut loose, spread the ball a bit and won by 62 points, they didn’t have much of an answer. The Aussie wingers were very poor in terms of butchering chances in that game, and potentially it should’ve been more than 62 points. Also, I think the three worst performances of the World Cup so far have been :
1) Samoa (v Japan)
2) Wales (v Uruguay)
3) Ireland (v Italy)
So, Wales were absolutely dreadful and still won by 45 points. Australia beat Uruguay with a mostly reserve side by 62. The game before that was a 40-0 loss to Japan. Despite numerous uses of “plucky” and “brave” – Uruguay do tend to lose by quite a few points. Nine of their team play their 3rd consecutive game, although the same argument can be made regarding many of the Fijians. Saulo gives this one a miss, and I think the burly prop has a case for being their best player of the whole tournament, but there are quite a few contenders.
Previous history isn’t too helpful to anyone here, with the sides meeting just once before, 16 years ago in L’Aquila, with Fiji winning by 15 points. The last time Uruguay met similar opposition at a World Cup was the defeat to Samoa in 2003, a 60-13 loss.
Fiji’s brand of rugby may well not suit the Uruguayans that well either, fast and loose. If the weather holds, I think in a world cup of favourites not covering decent size handicaps, this may well be an exception. Nadolo returns and hopefully takes over the goal kicking to add a few conversions. I think Fiji will aim to score 50 points, and I'm not sure Uruguay will score 15, to stay within cap