Why Wales have a lot to prove despite beating Japan

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Wales have won their previous two internationals at the Principality Stadium

Wales rugby wins have been in short supply in recent years.

So you would think victory in the opening match of a new campaign might be welcomed. Maybe even celebrated.

But the 28-21 win against Japan in the Nations Championship was unconvincing, underwhelming and a nervy struggle.

Head coach Steve Tandy admitted he expected better and captain Dewi Lake stated his team had let themselves down at times against Eddie Jones’ Japan.

It might have been a fourth victory in 13 internationals for Tandy, but the patchy performance left a lot to be desired.

There are much tougher tests to come with New Zealand the visitors in Cardiff next Saturday and Australia in the Welsh capital the following weekend.

BBC Sport Wales analyses what went right and wrong for Wales as the Nations Championship resumed.

Nations Championship: Wales edge Japan but underwhelm – reaction

Rees-Zammit proves a game-breaker

The shining light was wing Louis Rees-Zammit, who produced a stellar player-of-the-match display.

He set out his stall early on with an incisive break to lift the crowd and later scored his first try in eight internationals.

It was Rees-Zammit’s most influential international display since his return to rugby from his brief foray with American football and the NFL.

The Bristol star had dabbled with a move to full-back last season, but is now back in his preferred wing position where he can cause the most havoc.

“There aren’t many athletes that can come back from a different sport and get back to playing international rugby like he did so quickly,” said Tandy.

“By his own admission, Zam wants more. He wants to be one of the best wings in the world, if not the best.

“He’s got all the attributes to do that, and he’s kicked on.”

When the hosts were struggling to break down the Japan defence, Rees-Zammit popped up with powerful bursts, producing five of Wales’ 16 line-breaks, making 121 metres and beating 13 defenders.

“The best teams in the world have people that can break the game up, do something out of nothing,” said Tandy.

“He gone up a level and he deserved his man-of-the-match performance.”

Other reasons to be cheerful?

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Aaron Wainwright has joined Leicester from Dragons

Wales fans were looking for a statement performance against Japan. A marker to put down as the World Cup looms in under a year.

They were not provided with that but did witness a victory, however scratchy.

So Wales woke up on a Sunday morning with a Test victory to mark. That has not happened often in recent times.

Some of these Wales players will still remember the record-breaking 18-Test losing sequence between 2023 and 2025. If Wales players can take any positives this weekend, it will be victory.

As Tandy said afterwards, it is always easier to debrief a bonus-point victory.

Among the disjointed team performance, there were notable impressive individual displays from the usual suspects.

Back-row duo Aaron Wainwright and Jac Morgan excelled in attack and defence, full-back Blair Murray was a constant attacking threat and wing Josh Adams popped up with two tries.

Centre Eddie James showed glimpses of his power game in a new-look midfield partnership with Max Llewellyn.

While the centre combination did not set the world alight, it warrants further opportunites.

Tandy will not be content with Wales spending long periods defending and only having 40% in territory and possession.

This was emphasised in the tackle count as the hosts made 227 compared to Japan’s 115, with Wales finishing with the top eight tacklers in the game.

He will be encouraged by the resolve with Morgan topping the official Nations Championship charts with 24, followed by lock Dafydd Jenkins (23) and Wainwright (20).

Wales also forced 10 turnovers with Alex Mann gaining three, while there were crucial interventions from Lake, Adams and prop Nicky Smith when Japan seemed destined to score.

Win is massive for confidence – Lake

Malfunctioning line-out

The most obvious deficiency was the malfunctioning line-out with six throws going astray.

Hookers, Lake and Ryan Elias, struggled to find their jumpers as the Japan man mountain locks of Harry Hockings and co-captain Warner Dearns caused chaos.

Wales coughed up possession, but the line-out failures also disrupted the home side’s attacking maul, which has become the most potent offensive threat in recent time.

“We have got to be better,” said Lake.

“When we did get it right, we got joy from that area, but we would have loved to go to our driving maul more often.

“You have to credit Japan in that area for the defensive work they do.

“They’re number one in the world for a reason in this department, but we’re always going to look at ourselves first.”

Wales need to shed slow starter tags

Wales have been notoriously slow starters to new campaigns with Tandy’s team suffering heavy defeats by Argentina 12 months ago and England during the Six Nations in February.

This weekend has proved no exception against a side, like the southern hemisphere outfits, who are battle hardened.

“It’s great for us to get a game,” said Tandy.

“It does get clunky in your first hit out since the summer.

“It takes time to build that cohesion back, whereas you look at the amount of games South Africa, New Zealand and Japan have played since the last time we did in July.

“If you look at last year’s Six Nations, we got better in every game and we will look to do that again.”

After threatening to take control, Wales continually let Japan back into the game as they were guilty of poor handling errors, bouts of indiscipline and lapses in concentration.

“There were moments where we’d go seven points up and there’d be a sloppy knock-on or we’d look for the pass from a line break rather than take the tackle,” said Tandy.

“There are bits where there’s lots to like, but in Test matches, you need to be ruthless and reward yourself when on top.”

Wales fly-half Sam Costelow also had a mixed evening as he was guilty of kicking attacking ball away when the home side seemed set to break down the Japan defence.

Neither Costelow or Dan Edwards have nailed down the famous Wales number 10 jersey. The debate about who should fill the shirt will continue.

New Zealand coming to town

Wales remain 10th in the world with this victory again coming against a nation ranked between ninth and 12th.

Tandy’s quartet of international successes have been a Japan double and wins in Cardiff against Italy and Fiji.

There was nothing in this most recent performance to suggest Wales are any closer to hauling themselves out of this mini group of nations and ready to break into the world’s top eight.

Tandy is now in his fourth campaign and has yet to demonstrate he can bridge that gap.

New Zealand are next in Cardiff as the All Blacks opened their campaign with an impressive victory against Scotland, that cemented their place as the world’s second best side behind South Africa.

Wales have not beaten the All Blacks since 1953. Events of the past weekend suggest that 73-year losing streak will continue, unless there is a dramatic improvement from the home side and New Zealand’s standards drop markedly.

“It is a massive privilege to take on the All Blacks in our stadium,” said Tandy.

“We want to test ourselves against the best so this is another awesome opportunity to go play against one of the top two teams in the world.”

How many fans will turn up to watch Wales and All Blacks?

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

The Principality Stadium hosted the first game in 1999

How many fans will come out and watch next Saturday’s afternoon spectacle will be fascinating after the Japan game was played in front of 52,425 supporters.

How that attendance figure is judged depends on the narrative people choose to adopt.

Some would point to the crowd being 2,000 more than the opening match against Argentina last November and that it was a larger gathering that Ireland attracted to watch them defeat the Pumas in Dublin on Friday night.

Others would note that it was 9,000 down on the attendance that watched Wales win against Japan in Cardiff in November 2025, pointing to the swathes of empty seats, especially in the top tier of a ground which can host more than 72,000.

Those people say it provides further evidence fans are voting with their feet in protest against the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), because of the continued turmoil within the domestic game.

There will be another comparable figure to judge next weekend because Wales played New Zealand 12 months ago in a 52-26 loss which was witnessed by 68,388.

Whether the Japan win persuades a few more fans to turn up next weekend remains to be seen.

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