Wales 34- Fiji 38

Nantes, 28th September 2007

Well, at least I can say I was there...
A few days down the line, I still find it hard to describe what that was like.
We spent most of the game out of our seats, and stood to cheer Fiji's lap of honour as well as the shattered remnants of Wales' finest as they crawled round at the end of what was an astonishing game of rugby.
Wales lost the game about ten minutes before the kick off.
Two crystal clear illustrations of how and why - the Welsh playing some extravagant touch rugby to warm up, the Fijians running disciplined grids, putting the spare man over in the corner. Oh God, I thought, they're going to take them on at 7 a side.
And lo and behold, Wales spurn two chances to put a spare man over in the corner in the first 5 minutes.
Ultimately, the Fijians were more pragmatic. They were willing to pick and drive, to take the Welsh forwards on, then take them on again. The Welsh were unwilling or unable to subdue them at the point of contact. As the game wore on, the Fijians recycled the ball at greater speed, so the Welsh were unable to make it count in the scrum, where they were clearly superior.
But all this sounds too technical, too dry.
I was there, and it was bloody brilliant stuff.