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PORNICHET - Wales flanker Colin Charvis has told his team-mates they must get the "first one in" against Fiji as another slow-start could prove fatal to their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
Victory for either side in Nantes on Saturday would see them through to a last eight clash with South Africa with defeat spelling the end of the tournament for the loser.
Wales found themselves on the backfoot during a 20-32 defeat by Pool B winners Australia and even in their subsequent 72-18 thrashing of Japan.
"We go into the game with a boxer's mentality and get the first one in. Unfortunately, in two of our games we've managed to get the next two in," veteran back-row Charvis, closing in on 100 Wales caps, said at the squad's training base here Thursday.
The 34-year-old added: "We go into games wanting to start well. It's not a plan of ours to start poorly and lull them into a false sense of security and then run all over them.
"If we could do that, brilliant, but obviously we can't."
He said Wales, who in 2005 only managed to beat Fiji 11-10 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, would head into Saturday's encounter with renewed confidence based on their recent results after heavy warm-up defeats against England and France in August were followed by a narrow win over Argentina.
"If you look at our last few games we have actually been managing to score more tries and create more pressure in the oppositions' 22 and coming away with points," said Charvis. "I think we are improving but there's no doubt there's still a very long way to go."
A win for Fiji at the Stade de la Beaujoire would see a team renowned for its sevens record into a first World Cup quarter-final in 20 years.
"They did so well against Wales the last time we met," Charvis recalled. "Congratulations to them. I'm really glad for them as they have worked so hard and improved so much as an international team but there is not too much room for sentiment. For us this is a must-win game."
- AFP
