Wales put in two stout performances against Fiji, currently second in the overall standings, and England (currently 5th) but came up just short on both occasions before finishing their Pool A assignments with a comfortable 31-5 rout over Hong Kong.
Groves’ men finished third in their pool after a 17-10 defeat to Fiji and a 10-7 reverse to England to narrowly miss out on the Cup competition tomorrow and drop down to the Bowl where they will face Argentina in the quarter-finals. With Samoa, Australia and USA also in the final eight of the Bowl, Wales will have their work cut out to come away with a successful defence.
“We’re disappointed with the first two games where we pushed a couple of the top teams very close but that final bit of execution let us down,” said Groves.
“Against Hong Kong we were a bit more clinical and took our chances when they came. We’ve got to roll into the Bowl competition tomorrow with a bit of confidence and hopefully come away with a bit of silverware.”
Wales Head coach Gareth Williams was delighted to see the improvement in his side after a disappointing tournament last weekend in Hong Kong.
“It was very pleasing to see how we competed against two very experienced sides in Fiji and England. Lessons from last week have been heeded, and we were in each of the games to the death, and both sides, with established core players throughout, were relieved to hear the final whistle,” he said.
“It was pleasing to follow up with a very professional performance against Hong Kong in the final match of the day. A very fresh group have made good strides in a very short period, and we are excited to extend our performances in a very difficult Bowl quarter final against Argentina.
“The challenge for us is to maintain the concentration and mental resolve that we demonstrated through day one. We are not happy to come on the wrong end of narrow defeats, but process and technicalities are improving, and this bodes well for results moving forward if we can achieve consistency in selection.”
