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Head coach Steve Tandy warned Wales must improve after a grueling 28-21 Nations Championship victory over Japan in Cardiff.
Wales sealed a bonus-point victory as Josh Adams (2), Archie Griffin and Louis Rees-Zammit scored, but they had to produce some desperate last-gasp defending to prevent Japan from leveling the scores and famously drawing.
“Obviously it’s good to start the campaign with a result, but I can’t get away from the performance when I talk about it,” Tandy said after just the fourth win of his 13-match reign.
“There are elements of the performance that we definitely have to improve on. I thought we would be better than that in some elements.”
“There were some really good things from us, in terms of breaking lines and the way we opened up Japan. But we weren’t ruthless enough and we didn’t finish them off, making them pay when it counted.”
Wales have now won two of their four Nations Championship games but remain fifth in the Northern Hemisphere table.
The next two weekends promise to present far sterner tests for the Tandy side, with New Zealand and Australia rock in Cardiff.
Tandy said: “Getting hit for the first time since the summer, it’s getting tricky.
“It helps to review after a bonus points win. We’re going to park it and enjoy it because we haven’t done it much.”
“But the beauty of this group is the hunger to improve faster. We’ll definitely have to do that in the next few games.”
“There was some excitement in what we tried to do. Japan were effective near the line.”
“We ran the game very well outside of that. Defensively, we improved our robustness outside of Game 22.
“There’s something about the game where there’s a lot to like. But in Test matches you have to be relentless and reward yourself when you’re on top.”
Japan remain fifth in the Southern Hemisphere table and are on course to meet Wales again in the finals weekend at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, at the end of the month.
The Brave Blossoms trailed 21-14 at the break after tries from Ben Gunter and Warner Dearns.
Kenta Fukuda’s converted score five minutes from time set up a grandstand finish that Wales managed to hold on for the win.
Asked if it was a missed opportunity, Japan coach Eddie Jones said: “100 per cent. It could have been a historic win for us.
“But you have to be good enough to take advantage of those mistakes. We weren’t good enough.”
“I’m proud of my team. We had a particularly young team, a few students and one 10 who was playing his first Test. But they stuck with it. That was the problem.”
“When you get into the 22, if you’re not taking points from it, I think that’s the difference in the game now.
“We had three chances but we didn’t take the chances and Wales did. Their point going in was more than ours.”