Wales have opened up a 17-6 lead over Fiji at half time to close in on a place in the Rugby World Cup knockout stages.

Buoyed by their gutsy win against England last time out, the hosts were quick out of the blocks and were almost rewarded by a try inside the opening 60 seconds.

George North burst his way to within five metres of the chalk, but Fiji were able to stand firm to keep out their opponents.

The resolve did not last long, however, as just minutes later Gareth Davies did manage to cross over thanks to a fine dummy, with Dan Biggar picking up from where he left off at Twickenham by kicking over the extras.

Ben Volavola did reduce the arrears somewhat when finding the target with his penalty 15 minutes in, killing off the Red Dragons' early momentum, which was not helped by Bradley Davies having to temporarily leave the field due to a head injury.

There was a big chance for the Flying Fijians to close the gap further when awarded a second penalty within kicking distance of the sticks, but Volavola was unable to match the magic of the injured Nemani Nadolo and fired wide of the target.

Wales really should have put some distance between themselves and their 10th-in-the-world opponents with a quarter of the match played, only for Taulupe Faletau to be denied right on the line by Fiji skipper Akapusi Qera to keep the sides within touching distance.

Warren Gatland's men remained camped deep in the Fiji half for large parts, but it took until eight minutes before the interval until Scott Baldwin capitalised on some good handling from the forwards to scramble over for the game's second score.

Biggar maintained his impressive kicking record at this World Cup from the conversion, building on the 23 points registered against the Red Rose - an all-time high from a Wales player in a single match.

Volavola did pull back three more points for the Southern Hemisphere outfit shortly before the break to give his side a springboard to push on, yet it was the hosts who went into the break the happier of the two.