After surviving a second-half Fijian onslaught to register a third consecutive win in the tournament and top Pool A on Thursday, the injury-plagued Welsh should already be looking forward to the knockout stages.
But the nature of the so-called "Pool of Death" means it could still all come down to their final match against Australia at Twickenham next Saturday -- a scenario coach Warren Gatland knows is highly probable.
"To think you can lose one game in this pool and miss out on a quarter-final berth -- that's how tough it is," Gatland said after the fraught 23-13 victory over Fiji in Cardiff.
No team has ever gone out of the World Cup having won three matches since five-team pools were introduced in 2003 but after Wales failed to earn a bonus point against Fiji that is the worry in the rugby-mad nation.
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Only once have bonus points decided the outcome of a pool -- in 2011 when France edged out Tonga and went on to reach the final -- but should England beat Australia on Saturday it could come down to such slender margins again.
That is why Gatland, despite being a proud New Zealander, will be urging on Australia at Twickenham on Saturday when victory for the Wallabies will spare Wales a nerve-jangling all-or-nothing clash the following week.
"To be honest, (Australia) would do us a big favour wouldn't they?" Gatland, whose side beat England in such gutsy fashion last week.
"It means we make the quarter-finals so it's hard not to. If we're being entirely selfish about our own destiny, Australia can do us a big favour on Saturday.
"It's a bit hard for a Kiwi to be jumping up and cheering for Aussies as well. I'll be quite neutral this weekend."
Welsh hooker Scott Baldwin, however, said their only thoughts were of winning their final pool game.
"It does qualify us if Australia beat England, but we want to top the group and we want to beat Australia. We're going out next week to get the win, first and foremost," he said.
Lock Bradley Davies, who suffered a bloody nose injury against Fiji, said Wales could not have asked for more -- even if their quarter-final place was not yet secure.
"If you'd said before the tournament that we'd have three wins out of three, we'd have ripped your arm off, so it's happy days for us."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman)
