Wales win 28-21 but captain Lake says side 'let ourselves down'

Captain Dewi Lake said Wales "let themselves down" after their 28-21 Nations Championship victory over Japan in Cardiff on 7 November 2026. Josh Adams scored two tries and Wales also crossed through prop Archie Griffin and wing Louis Rees-Zammit to claim a bonus-point win.

The result was Wales' second victory from four matches in the competition and was achieved in front of 52,425 supporters. It represented only the fourth win in Steve Tandy's 13 Tests in charge, two of which have come against Japan. Lake expressed frustration at elements of the performance despite the scoreline: "There were massive parts of that game where we let ourselves down."

Lake highlighted the wider significance of the result while recalling recent difficulties for the team, saying a win should not be underestimated with Wales having suffered recent losing streaks, which included a record 18 consecutive Test defeats in a row. "A win is massive for this group, for the confidence and trust we'll get in each other," he said. "We were happy with the win and it's something we've not done often enough, so I am proud of the boys."

On the challenges ahead, Lake cautioned that improvements are required to be competitive in forthcoming fixtures and said the squad must correct shortcomings from the Japan game. "If you look at the two Test matches, we did things today that weren't good enough to compete in those games," he said. "We'll have to get a lot right next week and fix some stuff."

Head coach Steve Tandy also criticised aspects of the display despite welcoming the bonus point. "It's good to start the campaign with a bonus-point win but I can't run away from the performance when I talk about it," he said. "There are elements of the performance we definitely need to improve. I thought we'd be better than that in some elements."

Tandy pointed to positive moments amid the disappointment, adding: "There was good stuff from us, in terms of the line breaks and how we opened Japan up, but we weren't ruthless enough. We'll definitely have to do that for the next couple of games but it helps to review after a win."

Japan head coach Eddie Jones described the match as a missed chance to record a first win in Cardiff against Wales. "That could have been a historic win for us but you've got to be good enough to take advantage of those mistakes," he said. "If you watch rugby now, once you get in the 22 and if you don't take points from that, that's the difference in the game. We had three opportunities but we didn't take chances and Wales did. Their points-per-entry was higher than ours."

Jones questioned aspects of referee Paul Williams' interpretation at the breakdown, saying: "I hope I'm not going to get in trouble for this but there was one penalty for not supporting your weight at the breakdown and it was against us. Anyone watching that game, can you think there was just one ruck where the supporting player was off his feet? That can be the difference between winning and losing. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying sometimes you don't get the rub of the green. That can happen. You've got to suck it up and get on with it. Actually maybe I am complaining!" Japan travel to face Jones' former England side at Allianz Stadium at Twickenham next Saturday.

Wales remain fifth in the northern hemisphere table and face challenging fixtures this month, with New Zealand visiting Cardiff next Saturday and Australia scheduled to play at the Principality Stadium on 21 November.