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Dewi Lake has spoken out after a busy week in Welsh camp
Wales captain Dewi Lake has spoken out on the pay dispute between players and Welsh rugby bosses that threatened to overshadow Saturday’s Nations Championship opener with Fiji.
Players had been locked in meetings with Welsh Rugby Union bosses in between training sessions on Wednesday. In the end, a resolution was resolved on the match fees that Welsh players will be paid.
Despite an agreement being reached, the situation is far from ideal as Wales look for just their fourth Test victory since the start of 2024.
They will look to do so against Fiji, who are currently ranked two places above 11th-placed Wales in the world rankings.
“It’s a tough position that it’s coming into Test week,” said Lake. “Obviously, everybody would have loved these things done sooner, with it being a new tournament.
“We understand the details behind it and things like that. It’s a shame that it pulled into Test week, but we were able to get it done within plenty of time, and all focus for us now is on the game.
“We’ve been focused on the rugby. I think that’s something that’s obviously crept into the week, but it’s not taken our main focus off being, we’ve got a Test game this weekend against a quality outfit.
“These things have unfortunately happened before. So they might, unfortunately, happen again. Some things are out of your control.
“But the important thing is that we’ve kept focus on the rugby, and as I said, we were able to hash that out early in the week.
“Just something, unfortunately, that’s come up in the week, that we’ve had to deal with, but, you know, focus for us has been on the rugby.”
Having been captain on Fiji’s last visit to the Welsh capital back in 2024, when the visitors won in Cardiff for the first time, Lake will know exactly what threat the ‘home’ side will pose at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday.
That match was marred by cards, with Lake admitting discipline – which has been a work-on for Wales under Tandy – will be key.
“I think discipline has been something we’ve worked on massively throughout the last two campaigns,” he added. “If you go to maybe the last four games of the Six Nations, you’ve seen the drastic change in how we did that.
“And hopefully, we’ve created that picture, that we are a disciplined team, because we believe that we are.
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“Discipline speaks to more than just the penalty count, also about sticking to a game plan when the game can get chaotic.
“I’ve played Fiji and you get sucked into that way of playing, but we understand that’s their game. If we get sucked into that, then, we’re going to struggle in that chaos.
“But at the same time, we’re rugby players as well. If something is on for us, we’re going to take it, but structure will be massively important for us.”
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