Louis Rees-Zammit: 'Express pace' of Wales wing helps seal Fiji victory

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac was grateful for the express pace of wing Louis Rees-Zammit in the 38-23 victory over Fiji.

Rees-Zammit, 20, scored a superb solo try after sprinting onto his expertly measured left-foot kick as Wales produced a late scoring rally in Cardiff.

"That's what he can do, you can't coach that," said Pivac.

"It's great to have him in your side when he can do those sorts of things."

With the score at 24-23 in the 74th minute, Rees-Zammit stunned Fiji and the Principality Stadium crowd by producing an electrifying turn of speed to beat fly-half Ben Volavola to the ball.

"That's just express pace," added Pivac.

"I was just pleased for him because he was marked fairly heavily on the left wing. He showed that individual brilliance and raw pace."

Louis Rees-Zammit has scored six tries in 11 internationals for Wales

Captain Ellis Jenkins was also left in awe of Wales' fifth try, which consolidated the victory following a laboured display.

"What a try, he's fast, isn't he?" added Jenkins of the player who is among the nominees for World Rugby breakthrough player of the year.

"When you've got guys with gas on the wing you see how good they are in space.

"The challenge for us is to do that more often. His try was a big momentum shift for us."

Unleashing Rees-Zammit will be a challenge for the Welsh starting centre partnership against Australia next weekend.

• Laboured Wales overcome Fiji

• Post-match reaction and all the action as it happened.

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There was late midfield disruption against Fiji with Josh Adams suffering a calf injury in the warm-up and Nick Tompkins brought in to partner Johnny Williams.

Willis Halaholo was a replacement for his first involvement in the autumn series after recovering from Covid-19. The Cardiff centre impressed when he entered the fray in the final quarter for Williams.

"Talking to the midfield pair that started the game, they felt a lot of the hard work was done and things were starting to open up," added Pivac.

"If you talk to Johnny Williams, he'd love to have been on the pitch in those final 20 minutes.

"But we selected the side a certain way, we wanted to have a look at Josh Adams in midfield. That didn't happen so there was going to be a bit of time for the pair that started to get things right.

"Fiji were physical and at times we were knocked off our stride. It's as simple as that.

"We'll be reviewing the game and looking at it. He (Halaholo) is one we wanted to use at the start of the series and the fact he's been out hasn't been down to anything other than Covid."