Wales beat the Grand Slam winners 13-3 in Auckland on Tuesday, but now must repeat the achievement if they are to progress to the 5th place play-off at Eden Park next Friday, rather than contest for seventh place.
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“We are in a good place,” said Hayward. “We had an extra day’s recovery after the France game, we’ve trained well again, and everyone’s happy after the good performance and win.
“It’s a bit of a strange situation in international rugby to play the same team twice with such a short turn around but we feel we are more than capable of getting another win.
“The weather is much better this week and the conditions are expected to be much better this time around. To that end, we will be looking to play with more variety in our attack, getting the ball out wide when possible.
“France probably have the best line-out in the competition so we’ve been working hard in that area, both defensively and in attack. Our scrum has been one of our strengths all season and it is key that remains the case on Sunday.”
The winner of Sunday’s shoot out will play the winner of Australia v Samoa at Eden Park next Friday.
“It’s a massive incentive that the 5th place play-off is at Eden Park, one of the most prestigious grounds in world rugby, and it would be fantastic to be part of Finals Day there,” he added.
Sunday’s match will be shown in full ‘as live’ on S4C on Sunday evening (10pm).
