Ruthless streak pleases Gatland
Fiji knocked Wales out of the World Cup in France four years ago, a 38-34 defeat that cost Gareth Jenkins — Gatland’s predecessor as coach — his job.
As on that occasion, the Pool D rematch produced nine tries, but this time they were all scored by Wales on route to a 66-0 success.
Ireland now await them in the opening quarter-final at Wellington Regional Stadium next Saturday, the countries’ first meeting since scrum-half Mike Phillips scored a controversial try to give Wales victory during last season’s RBS 6 Nations Championship.
Wales led Fiji 31-0 at the interval, and Gatland said: “We spoke at half time about what good teams would do with that kind of score. They would not take their foot off the pedal, and I thought we did that.
“But we are under no illusions. We know that Fiji made 10 changes, so we need to make sure we don’t get too carried away with the result and just keep perspective.”
Wales finished second in their group behind world champions South Africa, but they scored 180 points and 23 tries from four starts.
“We knew this was the toughest pool,” Gatland added. “First up, it was about getting out of the pool, and we’ve achieved that goal. We’ve built a bit of momentum and confidence going into the quarter-finals.
“I think it’s exciting that teams from the northern hemisphere have ended up on one side [of the draw], and the teams from the southern hemisphere on the other side.”
Wales skipper Sam Warburton added: “We said we wanted to be ruthless from minute one to minute 80, and we put in a good performance throughout.”
Wales’ 19-year-old wing George North was once again a star performer, scoring one try and creating numerous other opportunities.
He was followed over the line by centre Jamie Roberts, who doubled his Wales try tally to four with two touchdowns, Roberts’ midfield partner Scott Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Lloyd Burns, Jonathan Davies, Lloyd Williams and Warburton.
“We’ve got a massive task next week, and hopefully we can bring the same intensity,” said North. “We have a confident group and I think we back ourselves against any team we come up against.”
WALES: Byrne, North, S Williams, Roberts, Halfpenny, Priestland, Phillips, Jenkins, Bennett, A Jones, B Davies, Charteris, R Jones, Warburton, Faletau.
Replacements: S Jones for Priestland (58), L Williams for Phillips (58), James for A Jones (58), A Jones for B Davies (40).
FIJI: Keresoni, Vulivuli, Fatiaki, Lovobalavu, Tagicakibau, Little, Buatava, Nailago, Koto Koto, Somoca, Nakarawa, Lewaravu, Nasiga, Matadigo, Talei.
Replacements: Veikoso for Koto Koto (40), Qera for Nasiga (61), Ravulo for Matadigo (60).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).
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