Publications
Partners
Tokyo - Wales are confident flyhalf Dan Biggar will be fit to play Fiji in their penultimate Pool D match on October 9, despite suffering a head knock in their narrow win over Australia, skills coach Neil Jenkins said on Tuesday.
Biggar failed a Head Injury Assessment (HIA), ending his involvement, after pulling off a potentially try-scoring tackle on Samu Kerevi in Wales' thrilling 29-25 victory on Sunday.
"He is symptom-free at the minute, and obviously just doing his protocols as you normally would," Jenkins said.
"As far as I understand, he will be ready to go by the time we play Fiji, so that's obviously good news.
"He will be fine. He is an outstanding rugby player, a world-class rugby player. He's a huge part of our team and the way we like to play the game."
Replacement flyhalf Rhys Patchell scored 14 points with his boot, including an invaluable second-half drop-goal - emulating Biggar's strike after just 37 seconds.
"We must not forget how good Rhys Patchell was when he came on, and how good a player he is as well," Jenkins insisted.
"We are quite lucky to have the strength in depth we have in our squad. We have only two 10s, and they are both vitally important to us."
Gareth Anscombe had become the favoured starter in the No 10 shirt but he was ruled out of the World Cup after picking up an injury in a warm-up match against England.
Jenkins was full of praise for Patchell, who came into the squad on the back of Anscombe's injury as back-up to Biggar.
"He was excellent on Sunday. His kicking was excellent, his goal-kicking was very good, his all-round game was excellent, as was his defence," the former Wales and British and Irish Lions flyhalf said.
"He came on and played the game we wanted to play. He put us in the right areas and got us the lead we maintained to win the game."
Jenkins said the fact that both Biggar and Patchell dropped goals were "vital".
"It is a skill in itself. If you can nail those three points and keep ticking the scoreboard over - three, six, nine - it makes a big difference, and it did for us on the weekend," he said.
"I am sure as the tournament progresses we will see a few more (drop goals)."
