Wales have secured top spot in Pool D of the Rugby World Cup with a 35-13 win over Uruguay this morning in Japan.
Tries from Nicky Smith, Josh Adams, Tomos Williams, Gareth Davies and a penalty try saw Wales overcome a determined Uruguayan side with a bonus-point victory and set up a quarter-final with France next weekend.
Wales dominated the early exchanges as they pushed for the opening score of the game.
However, they had to wait until 17 minutes in to get over the line. After spending seven minutes in the opposition 22, winning penalty after penalty, the Welsh eventually broke down a resilient defence as Smith barrelled over following a number of phases. Leigh Halfpenny knocked over the conversion to make it 7-0.
Despite seeing little of the ball in the first 20 minutes it was Uruguay that struck next as Felipe Berchesi slotted over a long-range penalty to cut the deficit to 7-3.
Uruguay continued to impressive defensively for the remainder of the half and slowly grew into the game as Wales became frustrated as they made simple handling errors.
The minnows brave performance was rewarded with a minute left in the half as Berchesi reduced the Welsh lead to just a single point as he was once again perfect from the tee with his second penalty of the game. Meaning as the whistle blew Wales held a narrow 7-6 lead.
Wales started the second-half with more spark about them and despite Halfpenny missing an early long-range penalty they stretched their lead with just under ten minutes gone in the half.
After getting into the Uruguayan 22 they then found themselves camped on the opposition line where they spread the ball out left as they had a pile-up of players and Adams was the one who had the easy task of touching the ball down. Halfpenny converted once again to make it 14-6.
Any chance of a major upset faded further away in the 65th minute as Uruguay’s Santiago Civetta was shown a yellow-card and from the resulting penalty Wales went to the corner, set up a driving maul from the line-out and were then awarded a penalty try.
Although with only 14 men on the pitch it was Uruguay who went on to score the next try as hooker German Kessler barged over from close-range after some sustained pressure. Berchesi added the extras to make it a nervy finish for the Welsh.
However, Wales came roaring back from the kick-off and within two minutes replacement scrum-half Williams darted through a gap five-metres out from the line and dived over in the left-corner. Halfpenny converted to make it 28-13.
With 85 minutes on the clock fellow substitute scrum-half Davies, who was out on the wing, showed some fast thinking, taking a quick tap and go from a penalty near half-way before racing through the Uruguayan side and touching down. Halfpenny scored with the final kick of the game to leave it at 35-13.
Wales will now switch their focus to a quarter-final with France next Sunday after topping Pool D while for Uruguay it is the end of an impressive World Cup campaign with their highlight being a stunning win over Fiji.
Wales Player Ratings
Starting XV:
Leigh Halfpenny (7), Josh Adams (8), Owen Watkin (7), Hadleigh Parkes (6), Hallam Amos (6), Rhys Patchell (6), Aled Davies (7); Nicky Smith (7), Ryan Elias (7), Dillon Lewis (7), Bradley Davies (6), Adam Beard (6), Aaron Shingler (8), Justin Tipuric (6), Aaron Wainwright (7)
Replacements (8)
